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Copyright,  1887,  by 
G.    W.    FREDERICK 


WESTCOTT  &  THOMSON, 

Stereotypers  and  EUctrotypers,  Phila. 


PREFACE. 


ONE  hundred  years  have  passed  since,  on  the  7th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1787,  HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG,  D.  D.,  departed 
this  life. 

J.  Chr.  Kunze,  D.  D.,  in  a  note  found  in  the  pamphlet  con- 
taining his  sermon  preached  in  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  at  New  York  on  the  occasion 
of  Miihlenberg's  death,  says :  "  A  biography  of  this  eminent 
man  shall  and  must  be  given  to  the  public.  Years  ago  I 
read  with  pleasure  a  composition  from  his  pen  which  will 
serve  excellently  as  a  basis  of  a  biography,  but  will  not  sat- 
isfy the  just  expectations  of  those  who  know  properly  to 
estimate  his  merits.  His  rare  humility  there  hides  the  most 
interesting  circumstances,  to  which  many  witnesses  still  can 
testify.  There  are  many  important  confidential  communica- 
tions from  him  in  my  possession.  Almost  every  one  of  my 
brethren  in  the  sacred  office  in  these  States  is  in  possession 
of  such  communications.  One  of  his  sons,  or  whosoever  it 
might  be,  would  also  do  a  good  service  to  the  friends  of 
God's  kingdom  on  earth  by  weaving  all  such  communica- 
tions into  a  somewhat  extended  biography  or  by  simply  pub- 
lishing selections  from  them.  I  say  this  with  the  view  of 
encouraging  the  possessors  of  such  relics  to  take  good  care 
of  them  and  diligently  to  collect  them." 

We  may  be  thankful  that  not  only  within  the  circle  of  the 
descendants  of  the  venerable  ancestor  many  of  his  letters  and 

iii 


IV  PREFACE. 

other  documents,  and  especially  his  carefully-written  diaries, 
were  conscientiously  preserved  and  guarded,  but  that  also  in 
the  archives  of  the  Orphan-House  at  Halle  in  Germany,  from 
which  he  came  forth  a  missionary  among  the  dispersed  and 
spiritually  destitute  German  Lutherans  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
with  which  he  kept  up  correspondence  throughout  his  life, 
large  portions  of  his  diaries,  many  reports,  and  letters  were 
deposited  and  carefully  preserved.  This  latter  part  of  Muhl- 
enberg's  literary  legacy  became  within  recent  times  accessible 
to  us  through  the  praiseworthy  efforts  of  Rev.  Dr.  William 
Germann,  ecclesiastical  counsellor  and  superintendent  of  the 
diocese  of  Wasungen,  Sachsen-Meiningen.  Access  to  the 
diaries,  correspondence,  reports,  and  other  documents  first 
mentioned  was  kindly  permitted  me  by  the  late  H.  H.  Muhl- 
enberg,  M.  D.,  of  Reading,  Pa.,  and  by  the  Rev.  F.  A.  Muhl- 
enberg,  D.  D.,  professor  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  confidence  they  bestowed  upon  me  was  of  the  highest 
value,  and  is  herewith  gratefully  acknowledged. 

These  extensive  documents  and  much  valuable  material 
bearing  upon  the  life  and  labors  of  Miihlenberg  on  the  nu- 
merous pages  of  the  Halle  Reports  were,  in  connection  with 
other  historical  publications,  the  main  sources  at  my  com- 
mand. Not  the  least  of  these  sources  were  the  results  of 
the  painstaking  investigations  of  the  Rev.  B.  M.  Schmucker, 
D.  D.,  pastor  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  church  of  the 
Transfiguration  at  Pottstown,  Pa.,  which  are  included  in  the 
new  edition  of  the  Halle  Reports,  vol.  i.,  published  by  Brobst, 
Diehl  &  Co.  at  Allentown,  Pa.,  1886.  To  him  my  thanks  are 
due  for  having  introduced  me  to  the  study  of  the  history  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  America,  and  for  having  proved  to  me  a 
trustworthy  and  most  desirable  colaborer  in  this  branch  of  liter- 
ary research.  In  the  first  volume  of  the  new  edition  of  the  Halle 


PREFACE.  V 

Reports  the  united  labors  of  Dr.  Germann,  Dr.  Schmucker, 
and  myself  gathered  a  large  amount  of  information  on  the 
general  and  local  history  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this 
country,  from  its  very  beginning  down  to  the  present  time. 
Therein  we  adhered  to  the  German  language,  in  which  the 
Halle  Reports  originally  were  published.  The  chilling  indif- 
ference shown  toward  our  altogether  unselfish  labors  by  an 
appallingly  large  number  of  the  German  Lutheran  clergy  and 
•  laity,  who  in  their  public  worship,  and  even  in  their  families, 
habitually  use  the  German  language,  and  in  whose  behalf  we 
had  devoted  years  of  assiduous  labor  and  the  publishers  an 
outlay  of  thousands  of  dollars,  moved  me  to  make  use  of  the 
English  language  in  the  work  now  offered  to  the  public. 

From  Miihlenberg's  own  hand  we  have  at  least  part  of  an 
autobiography  extending  from  his  youth  to  the  year  1743, 
the  commencement  of  his  pastoral  and  missionary  labors  in 
Pennsylvania.  It  is  given  to  the  public  by  the  Rev.  W.  Ger- 
mann, D.  D.  (Allentown,  Brobst,  Diehl  &  Co.,  1881).  Other 
portions  of  Miihlenberg's  life  were  published  from  his  diaries 
— for  instance,  his  visit  to  Ebenezer,  Ga.,  1774-75,  in  the  Get- 
tysburg Evangelical  Review,  vols.  i.-iv.  An  abridged  biogra- 
phy, containing  the  most  important  events  of  his  life  and  giv- 
ing a  portraiture  of  his  religious  character,  from  the  pen  of 
the  late  Prof.  M.  L.  Stoever  of  Pennsylvania  College,  appeared 
in  1856,  and  has  again  and  again  been  reprinted. 

Henry  Melchior  Miihlenberg  needs  no  biographer  to  keep 
him  in  most  revered  and  loving  remembrance  in  the  Lutheran 
Church  of  this  country.  His  name  is  so  closely  connected 
with  the  very  genesis  of  the  Lutheran  Church  here,  with  the 
first  attempts  at  its  organization,  and  with  the  first  and  suc- 
cessful missionary  labors  among  the  many  dispersed  German 
Lutherans  from  Maryland  to  the  shores  of  the  Upper  Hudson, 


VI  PREFACE. 

and,  in  fact,  far  beyond  these  limits,  that  it  cannot  fall  into 
oblivion.  Indeed,  while  the  large  numbers  of  Lutherans  in 
our  country  are  divided  on  various  questions  and  segregated 
into  divers  representative  bodies,  the  name  of  Miihlenberg  is 
honored  among  the  membership  of  the  General  Synod,  in  the 
circles  of  the  General  Council,  in  the  United  Synod  of  the 
South,  and  indeed  in  every  Lutheran  community. 

Yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that,  though  his  name  is  famil- 
iar throughout  the  Church,  yet  about  the  actual  course  of 
his  intensely  interesting  life  and  labors,  and  about  the  con- 
ditions under  which  he  had  to  exhibit  his  eminent  talent  and 
the  wonderful  energy  of  his  character,  proportionally  very 
little  is  known.  During  my  researches  concerning  the  early 
history  of  Lutheranism  in  this  country  my  interest  in  him 
as  a  man,  a  Christian,  a  representative  of  the  Church,  a  mis- 
sionary to  the  dispersed  Lutherans,  and  an  organizer  of  Lu- 
theran congregations,  a  spiritual  father  to  many  souls,  a  most 
judicious  counsellor  of  his  colaborers,  could  but  increase.  I 
feel  myself  perfectly  justified  in  saying  that  what  I  here  offer 
to  the  public  was  to  me  a  work  of  love,  and  has  an  interest 
not  only  for  the  numerous  and  honored  descendants  of  the 
noble  ancestor,  but  for  the  historian  of  our  country,  for  all 
who  relish  historical  reading  and  information,  and  most  di- 
rectly for  those  who  are  engaged  in  pastoral  work  and 
mission  enterprises  in  the  home-field. 

In  a  certain  sense  it  is  true  that  the  life  of  Miihlenberg  and 
the  history  of  the  Lutheran  Church  of  those  times  are  identi- 
cal. My  book  does  not,  however,  pretend  to  supply  a  Church 
history  of  that  period,  and  therefore  does  not  answer  many 
collateral  questions,  while  it  will  throw  some  light  upon  that 
eventful  epoch.  Neither  will  it  in  any  way  supplant  works 
on  the  early  history  of  the  Lutheran  Church  of  this  country, 


PREFACE.  vii 

like  the  meritorious  book  on  this  subject  by  the  Rev.  C.  W. 
SchaefTer,  D.  D.,  Senior  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Theological  Sem- 
inary of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  Philadelphia,  or  any  similar 
books.  My  main  intent  was  to  give  a  portraiture  of  the  per- 
sonality of  Miihlenberg  and  a  truthful  story  of  his  life  and 
labors,  framed  in  a  sufficiently  comprehensive  delineation  of 
the  times  in  which  he  lived  and  the  personal  and  social  ele- 
ments with  which  he  was  brought  into  contact.  On  the  cen- 
tennial of  his  death  I  devote  this  book  to  his  memory,  and  lay 
it  on  his  grave  as  an  olive-branch  offered  to  the  discordant 
elements  in  the  Church  which  was  his  spiritual  home  and  the 
object  of  his  faithful  labors. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  book  I  was  most  kindly  assisted 
by  the  Rev.  Prof.  F.  A.  Muhlenberg,  D.  D.,  and  the  Rev.  H. 
E.  Jacobs,  D.  D.,  my  beloved  colleague  in  the  Faculty  of  the 
Theological  Seminary.  To  these  brethren,  and  to  others  who 
variously  encouraged  me  and  speeded  my  way,  my  hearty 
thanks  are  herewith  publicly  given. 

Of  the  imperfections  of  my  work  I  am  fully  conscious.  If 
what  I  here  offer  should  awaken  a  new  interest  in  the  vener- 
able patriarch,  and  in  the  times  in  which,  through  his  inde- 
fatigable labors,  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country  began 
to  be  an  organized  body  furnished  with  instrumentalities 
needful  for  her  conservation  and  progress,  I  shall  consider 
myself  amply  rewarded  for  my  labors.  If  those  who  now, 
in  the  service  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  have  to  fight  the  bat- 
tles of  the  Lord  should  be  encouraged  and  stimulated  by  the 
noble  example  of  H.  M.  Muhlenberg  as  a  missionary  and  as 
a  pastor,  I  would  consider  it  the  most  signal  blessing  that 
Divine  Grace  might  bestow  upon  this  book. 

W.  J.  MANN. 
PHILADELPHIA,  Easter,  1887. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I. 
1711-1738. 

PAGH 

Birth. — Birthplace. — Parentage  and  family. — First  school-years. — Longing  for 
higher  education. — Zellerfeld. — Gottingen. — Spiritual  awakening. — Piet- 
ism.— Prof.   Oporin,  D.  D. — Patrons  of   high   standing. — Beginning  of  , 
charity  school. — First  exercises  in  practical  theology. — Enters  the  Halle 
Orphan-House  as  teacher * 

CHAPTER    II. 
1739-1742. 

Selected  as  a  missionary  for  East  India. — Frustration  of  this  plan.— G.  A. 
Francke,  D.  D. — Christian  work  at  Halle. — Herr  von  Canstein  and  the 
first  Bible  society. — Fr.  M.  Ziegenhagen,  D.  D. — Call  to  Grosshenners- 
dorf. — Baroness  Gersdorf. — Acceptance  of  the  call. — Examination  and 
ordination  at  Leipsic. — Enters  upon  his  duties  at  Grosshennersdorf; — 
Or;jl  an-House  and  other  charitable  institutions  there. — The  Bohemian 
colony. — Embarrassing  circumstances. — Visit  to  Eimbeck  and  Halle. — 
Call  to  the  dispersed  Lutherans  in  Pennsylvania. — Return  to  Grosshen- 
nersdorf.— Apology  for  private  conventicles. — Balthasar  Mentzer,  D.  D. — 
Departure  from  Grosshennersdorf. — Journey  to  Halle 14 

CHAPTER    III. 
1742. 

Departure  from  Halle. — Miihlenberg  arrives  at  Eimbeck  by  the  way  of  Halber- 
stadt,  Wernigerode,  Gottingen. — Unpleasant  experiences  there  through 
clerical  censoriousness. — Passing  through  Hanover,  Osnabriick,  Deventer, 
and  Norden  to  Amsterdam,  through  Leyden,  Rotterdam,  Briel,  to  Hel- 
voetsluys,  he  sets  sail  for  England. — Acquaintance  made  on  board  the 
ship. — Arrival  at  London.  —  Intercourse  with  Ziegenhagen,  John  Dav. 
Michaelis.  H.  A.  Butjender,  and  others. — Miihlenberg  receives  the  for- 
mal call  to  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  congregations  of  Philadelphia,  New 
Providence,  and  New  Hanover  in  Pennsylvania. — He  is  requested  to 
visit  the  Salzburger  congregation  at  Ebenezer,  Ga. — Sets  sail  for  the  New 

\\orld 28 

viii 


CONTENTS.  IX 

CHAPTER    IV. 
1742  (continued}. 

Voyage  across  the  Atlantic. — The  armature  of  the  ship. — Misery  experienced. 
— Dangerous  foes.  —  Salzburgers  on  board. — Mtthlenberg's  interest  in 
them. — Slow  progress. — Painful  want  of  drinking-water. — Uncongenial 
fellow-passengers. — Muhlenberg's  influence  over  them.- — He  conducts 
services  in  the  English  language. — His  conversation  with  the  Spanish 
cook 43 

CHAPTER    V. 

1742  (continued}. 

Arrival  at  Charleston. — Muhlenberg's  inquiries  for  the  Germans  there. — John 
Lederer,  the  German  explorer  of  the  Carolinas  —  Dutch  Lutherans  in 
South  Carolina. — German  settlers  on  the  Congaree. — Muhlenberg  meets 
negro  slaves. — He  sets  out  for  Georgia. — Incidents. — Divine  services  on 
shore  in  a  Presbyterian  family. — Beaufort. — Arrival  at  Savannah. — James 
Oglethorpe. — John  and  Charles  Wesley. — Methodism  in  contact  with 
Pietism  and  Moravianism. — Thomas  Stephens. — Rev.  J.  Chr.  Gronau 
comes  to  meet  Muhlenberg,  and  accompanies  him  to  Ebenezer. — The 
locality. — Rev.  J.  M.  Boltzius. — Rev.  H.  H.  Lembke. — Condition  of  the 
Salzburgers. — J.  Fr.  Vigera. — Donation  of  J.  M.  Kiderlin 60 

CHAPTER    VI. 

1742  (continued}. 

Benefit  derived  from  the  visit  at  Ebenezer. — Boltzius  accompanies  Muhlen- 
berg to  Charleston. — They  hold  religious  services  in  their  lodgings. — 
Visitors  from  Purrysburg — Boltzius  returns  to  Ebenezer. — Muhlenberg 
reads  reports  of  Count  Zinzendorf  in  Pennsylvania. — He  is  a  guest  of 
Mr.  Theus. — Holds  religious  services  with  the  Germans  at  Charleston. — 
Departure  for  Philadelphia. — Incidents  and  hardships  of  the  voyage  .  .  76 

CHAPTER    VII. 

1742  (continued}.  ^ 

Muhlenberg's  fitness  for  his  life-work. — His  mental  frame  and  physical  con-  ) 
dition. — Peculiar  character  of  his  field  of  labor. — Political  condition  of 
Pennsylvania  since  the  times  of  William  Penn.  —German  settlers  near 
and  in  Philadelphia. — Political  influence  of  the  Quakers. — Mixed  popu- 
lation of  Pennsylvania. — Count  von  Thurnstein. — Val.  Kraft  and  the 
German  Lutheran  congregation  at  Philadelphia. — Muhlenberg  sets  out 
for  New  Hanover. — Preaches  there,  and  presents  his  pastoral  call. — 
Preaches  at  New  Providence  (Trappe).— Meets  Val.  Kraft  at  Phila- 
delphia.— Preaches  there. — Peter  Kock. — Henry  Schleydorn. — Muhlen- 
berg acknowledged  as  the  legitimate  pastor  at  New  Hanover,  New  Provi- 
dence, and  Philadelphia. — Rev.  Pet.  Tranberg 87 


X  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    VIII. 
1742  (continued}. 

PAGE 

Count  Zinzendorf  in  Philadelphia. — Moravian  emissaries  and  settlers  in  Penn- 
sylvania.— Bethlehem. — The  nine  conferences  in  Pennsylvania. — The  Ger- 
man Lutherans  in  Philadelphia  before  Zinzendorfs  arrival.^-Rev.  Jac. 
Fabricius. — Rev.  J.  Chr.  Schultze. — Rev.  J.  C.  Stoever. — Zinzendorf  and 
the  German  Lutheran  congregation  at  Philadelphia. — Rev.  J.  Chr.  Pyr- 
laeus. — Rev.  Pet.  Boehler. — Muhlenberg  meets  Count  Zinzendorf  ...  109 

CHAPTER    IX. 

1743- 

Muhlenberg  enters  upon  his  pastoral  work  in  the  three  united  congregations. — 
He  opens  schools  at  Providence  and  New  Hanover,  and  maintains  church 
discipline. — Halle  Reports. — Charitable  gifts  from  Germany. — Muhlen- 
berg's  unselfish  labors  appreciated. — Resolutions  passed  at  Providence 
and  at  Philadelphia  to  erect  churches;  at  Hanover,  to  build  a  school 
house 1 2P, 

CHAPTER    X. 

1743-1745. 

Difficulty  in  doing  justice  to  the  three  united  congregations. — External  circum- 
stances of  Muhlenberg's  office. — His  sphere  of  action  begins  to  extend. — 
The  west  side  of  the  Schuylkill. — Germantown. — Tulpehoken. — Conrad 
Weiser. — Casp.  Leutbecker. — A.  Eschenbach. — Zinzendorfs  interest  in 
Tulpehoken.  —  G.  BUttner. — J.  Ph.  Meurer.  —  Corner-stone  of  Christ 
Church  laid. — Muhlenberg's  first  visit  to  Tulpehoken. — Rev.  Tob. 
Wagner. — J.  C.  Andreae. — Muhlenberg's  interest  is  claimed  in  behalf  of 
the  Lutheran  congregations  on  the  Upper  Raritan,  N.  J. — J.  A.  Wolf 
and  his  troubles. — Rev.  W.  Chr.  Berkenmeier. — Rev.  M.  Chr.  Knoll  .  138 

CHAPTER    XI. 

1745-1747. 

Further  extension  of  Muhlenberg's  missionary  labors. — Numerical  increase  of 
Lutherans  in  Pennsylvania. — Their  spiritual  destitution. — Irregularly  ap- 
pointed pastors. — Carl  Rudolph. — Moravian  pastors  intruding  upon  Lu- 
theran congregations. — In  answer  to  Muhlenberg's  petition,  Rev.  P.  Brunn- 
holtz  and  J.  N.  Kurtz  and  J.  H.  Schaum  arrive  from  Halle. — Their  re- 
spective fields  of  labor. — Brunnholtz  takes  charge  of  Philadelphia  and 
Germantown.— Muhlenberg  retains  Providence  and  New  Hanover  and 
outlying  charges. — Kurtz  begins  to  teach  at  New  Hanover,  Schaum  at 
Philadelphia.  —  J.  J.  Loeser. —  Muhlenberg's  marriage.  —  He  settles  at 
Providence. — Missionary  work  in  Lancaster  and  York. — L.  T.  Nyberg. 
— J.  Conr.  Weiser  the  elder. — The  Lutherans  on  the  Upper  Hudson  and 


CONTENTS.  xi 

PAGE 

in  the  Schoharie  Valley. — Interest  in  the  Raritan  congregations.— The 
catechists  Kurtz  and  Schaum  there. — Progress  of  these  churches    .    .     156 

CHAPTER    XII. 

1747-1748. 

Arrival  of  Rev.  J.  Fr.  Handschuh. — Disturbed  condition  of  the  Lancaster  con- 
gregation.— Miihlenberg's  influence  demanded. — J.  N.  Kurtz,  settled  at 
Tulpehoken,  serves  for  a  time  at  Lancaster. — Handschuh  placed  there. — 
Molatton. — Earltown  (New  Holland). — A  Liturgy. — Muhlenberg,  again 
on  a  missionary  tour,  visits  Tulpehoken,  Northkill  (Bernville),  Lancaster, 
York,  Monocacy,  Frederick,  McAllistertown  (Hanover). — Jacob  Lischy, 
— L.  T.  Nyberg. — B.  Maul. — Articles  of  church  order. — Dissensions. — 
Moravian  influences. — Rev.  J.  C.  Hartwig. — Visits  to  Upper  Milford, 
Saccum,  and  neighboring  congregations. — Missionary  work  branches  out 
to  Birkensee  (Perkasie,  N.  P.  R.  R.),  Fasten,  Macungie,  Salisbury,  and 
other  localities. — Catechist  J.  H.  Schaum  placed  at  York. — Muhlenberg's 
account  of  his  pastoral  work. — Correspondence  and  diaries 173 

CHAPTER    XIII. 
1748. 

J.  N.  Kurtz  again  sent  to  the  Raritan  congregations. — Handschuh  begins  his 
labors  at  Lancaster. — Muhlenberg  holds  services  in  English  at  Molatton. 
— Missionary  tour  to  the  Blue  Mountains. — Visit  to  the  Raritan  congre- 
gations.— Consultation  with  Brunnholtz  and  Hartwig. — Tulpehoken  and 
Northkill  petition  for  a  regular  pastor  and  reception  into  the  united 
churches  of  Pennsylvania. — Organization  and  first  meeting  of  synod. — 
Examination  and  "  Reverse  "  of  J.  N.  Kurtz. — His  call  to  Tulpehoken. — 
Dedication  of  St.  Michael's  Church. — Ordination  of  Kurtz. — Retrospect  .  204 

CHAPTER    XIV. 
1748  et  seq. 

Political  aspects  of  Pennsylvania. — Internal  dissensions. — Disastrous  war  with 
the  French. — Barbarous  hostilities  of  the  Indians. — Final  victory  of  the 
English. — Influence  of  those  turbulent  times  upon  social  life,  congrega- 
tions, and  pastors  in  Pennsylvania. — Regina  the  released  captive. — Sick- 
ness of  Brunnholtz.  —  John  Albr.  Weygand. — Muhlenberg's  interest  in 
him. — He  is  sent  to  the  Raritan  congregations. — J.  B.^van  Dieren. — J.  H. 
Schaum  ordained  1749. — Weygand  ordained  1750;  called  to  New  York 
1753. — Marriage  of  J.  Fr.  Vigera. — Ludolph  H.  Schrenk. — Kindness  of 
Brunnholtz  and  Muhlenberg  toward  him. — He  labors  as  catechist  at  Up- 
per Milford,  Saccum,  and  neighboring  places. — His  ordination. — He  suc- 
ceeds Weygand  in  the  Raritan  congregations. — Catechist  J.  A.  Friderici. — 
Schrenk  leaves  the  Raritan  congregations. — His  erratic  course  and  final 
disappearance 216 


xii  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XV. 
1748  et  seq.  (continued}. 

PAGE 

Lucas  Raus  of  Transylvania. — His  parentage  and  education. — Brunnholtz  and 
Muhlenberg' s  interest  in  him. — He  labors  as  catechist  at  Old  Goshenhop- 
pen,  Indianfield,  and  Tohicon. — He  is  sent  to  Hartwig's  congregation  on 
the  Hudson. — His  ordination  and  marriage. — His  call  to  York,  and  final 
severance  from  synod  and  the  pastorate. — Rev.  G.  S.  Klug's  visit  to  Penn- 
sylvania.— His  successors,  J.  Schwarbach,  J.  Frank. — Muhlenberg  at  the 
meeting  of  synod  at  Lancaster,  1749. — He  visits  again  Upper  Milford, 
Saccum,  Easton,  and  Birkensee,  and  the  Raritan  congregations ;  erection 
of  churches  at  New  Germantown  and  Bedminster. — His  services  desired 
at  Indianfield. — Synodical  meeting  at  Providence,  1750. — Tob.  Wagner 
appears  there 232 


CHAPTER    XVI. 
1748  et  seq.  (continued}. 

Arrival  of  Israel  Acrelius,  the  Swedish  provost. — Relations  between  Swedish 
and  German  Lutheran  pastors. — Acrelius's  History  of  Nerv  Sweden. — 
Conrad  Weiser  and  Muhlenberg  visit  Hartwig's  congregations  on  the 
Hudson. — Visit  to  Bethlehem. — Experiences  of  the  travellers. — Muhlen- 
berg as  peacemaker  in  Hartwig's  congregations. — He  and  Hartwig  set  sail 
for  New  York. — The  Dutch  Lutheran  congregation  there. — Difficulties  on- 
account  of  the  demands  of  the  German  Lutherans. — Formation  of  a  Ger- 
man congregation. — Muhlenberg  meets  Berkenmeier  and  preaches  in  the 
Dutch  Lutheran  church  in  German  and  in  English. — On  his  reiurn  to 
Pennsylvania  he  visits  the  Raritan  congregations. — Hartwig  sojourns  in 
Pennsylvania 243 


CHAPTER    XVII. 
1748   et   seq.  (continued}. 

The  Dutch  Lutherans  of  New  York  give  a  call  to  Muhlenberg.— Difficulties. 
— Importance  of  the  case. — Pastoral  conference  at  Tulpehoken. — Hand- 
schuh  to  be  transferred  to  Germantown ;  Muhlenberg  to  spend  a  limited 
time  at  New  York. — He  again  visits  Upper  Milford  and  other  congrega- 
tions then  served  by  Catechist  Schrenk. — Synodical  meeting  at  Phila- 
delphia, I751- — Muhlenberg,  accompanied  by  Hartwig,  sets  out  for  New 
York. — Pastoral  work  there ;  preaches  in  the  Dutch  language. — Pays  his 
respects  to  some  of  the  clergy  of  the  city. — Visits  the  Dutch  Lutherans  at 
Hackensack,  N.  J. — Lawrence  van  Buskirk. — Rev.  J.  Fr.  Riess. — Rela- 
tion between  the  Dutch  and  the  German  congregations  at  New  York. — 
Rev.  Eb.  Pemberton,  D.  D. — Muhlenberg  returns  to  Providence  ...  261 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

CHAPTER    XVIII. 
1751-1752- 

PAGE 

Muhlenberg's  pastoral  work  at  Providence,  New  Hanover,  and  the  vicinity. 
— Correspondence  with  his  relatives  at  Eimbeck  and  with  dignitaries  of 
the  Church  in  Germany. — Arrival  of  Rev.  J.  D.  M.  Heintzelmann  and 
Rev.  Fred.  Schultz. — Heintzelmann  appointed  assistant  to  Brunnholtz. — 
His  early  death. — Schultz,  for  a  time  assistant  to  Muhlenberg,  labors  for 
a  few  years  at  New  Goshenhoppen  and  at  Indianfield. — His  further  career. 
— Muhlenberg  again  during  three  months  active  in  pastoral  work  at  New 
York  and  Hackensack. — He  preaches  in  Dutch,  in  German,  and  in  Eng- 
lish ;  catechises  adults ;  instructs,  confirms,  and  administers  the  sacraments. 
— His  interest  in  the  colored  race ;  views  on  certain  recently-introduced 
measures. — Rev.  Mich.  Schlatter  of  the  German  Reformed  Church. — His 
career  in  America  and  friendly  relations  with  Muhlenberg. — Muhlenberg 
returns  to  Pennsylvania. — Statistics  as  to  his  pastoral  work. — Extent  of 
his  influence ' 283 


CHAPTER    XIX. 
1752  et  seq.  (continued). 

Difficulties  arising. — Pietism  in  conflict  with  carnal-mindedness. — Handschuh's 
unfortunate  marriage  at  Lancaster. — He  enters  upon  his  new  field  of  labor 
at  Germantown. — Impediments  in  his  way. — Disturbances  in  the  congre- 
gation.— Rebellion  against  Handschuh  and  synod. — He  retires  with  a 
small  number  of  the  faithful. — The  congregation  cut  loose  from  synod. 
— They  are  assisted  by  Tob.  Wagner. — Danger  of  the  spread  of  the 
rebellion. — Disturbances  at  York. — J.  Sam.  Schwerdfeger. — J.  H.  Schaum 
leaves  York;  his  further  career  and  death. — Rev.  J.  S.  Gerock  of  Wiir- 
temberg  accepted  by  the  Lancaster  congregation ;  his  further  career. — 
Rev.  B.  M.  Hausihl. — Muhlenberg  again  visits  Frederick,  Md. — Rev.  J. 
F.  Schertlin. — Muhlenberg  pays  another  visit  to  New  York. — Transient 
difficulties  in  the  Raritan  congregations. — Muhlenberg  restores  peace  and 
greatly  encourages  them  by  repeated  visits. — William  Kurtz. — William 
Graaf. — Jacob  van  Buskirk. — Muhlenberg  at  Hackensack  and  Remmers- 
pach 298 

CHAPTER    XX. 
1752  et  seq.  (continued). 

Muhlenberg  and  the  Raritan  congregations. — Death  of  J.  C.  Weiser. — Rev. 
P.  D.  Prizelius. — Mtthlenberg  declines  a  call  to  Nova  Scotia. — Charity 
schools  among  the  Germans  in  Pennsylvania. — Rev.  W.  Smith,  D.  D. — 
Benjamin  Franklin.  —  Politics  mixed  with  benevolence.  —  Christopher 
Sauer. — Muhlenberg's  relation  to  the  charity  schools. — They  cease  to  be 
supported 323 


xiv  '  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XXI. 
1760-1761. 

PAGE 

Distinguished  visitors  at  Providence. — Rev.  Rich.  Peters,  D.  D. — Rev.  Chas. 
M.  Wrangel,  D.  D. — His  friendship  with  Miihlenberg. — His  activity  as 
pastor  and  as  provost  of  the  Swedish  churches. — His  voice  in  behalf  of 
the  history  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America.— Muhlenberg  accepts 
the  call  to  the  German  Lutheran  church  at  Philadelphia. — History  and 
condition  of  this 'congregation. — Gerhard  Henkel. — J.  Eneberg. — J.  Chr. 
Schultze. — J.  C.  Stoever. — J.  Dylander. — P.  Brunnholtz.— J.  F.  Hand- 
schuh  elected  pastor 338 

CHAPTER    XXII. 

1760-1761  (continued). 

Difficulties  within  the  Philadelphia  congregation. — Need  of  reorganization. — 
Discordant  parties.  —  Muhlenberg's  presence  in  the  congregation  de- 
manded.— He  visits  Philadelphia  as  a  mediator. — Salaries  of  pastors 
and  teachers. — Electing  church-officers. — Need  of  a  congregational  con- 
stitution.— Adoption  of  the  new  constitution. — Wrangel's  friendly  co- 
operation.— Muhlenberg's  eminent  merits  in  the  pacification  and  organi- 
zation of  the  congregation. — Presiding  officer  of  synod 356 

CHAPTER    XXIII. 
1762  et  seq. 

New  York  and  Germantown  claim  the  attention  of  synod. — J.  N.  Kurtz  for  a 
time  at  Germantown. — Rev.  J.  A.  Krug  and  Rev.  J.  L.  Voigt  arrive. — 
Voigt  elected  pastor  at  Germantown. — The  congregation  reunited  with 
synod. — Succeeding  pastors. — Arrival  of  Rev.  J.  Fr.  Schmidt  and  Rev.  J. 
H.  Chr.  Helmuth. — Origin  of  St.  Peter's  Church  at  Barren  Hill. — Diffi- 
culties in  its  progress. — Muhlenberg's  embarrassment  and  release. — The 
Solms-Roedelsheim  legacy. — Muhlenberg's  plan  to  establish  an  orphan- 
house  and  a  seminary  for  the  education  of  pastors. — His  care  of  all  the 
congregations  connected  with  synod. — Repeated  visits  at  Reading,  Tul- 
pehoken,  Cohansey,  the  Raritan,  and  other  congregations. — J.  G.  Jung. 
— Christian  Streit. — Baron  Stiegel. — Rev.  J/  G.  Eager. — Rev.  Chas.  F. 
Wildbahn. — Extent  of  synod. — J.  C.  Stoever  in  membership  with  synod.  373 

CHAPTER    XXIV. 
1762  et  seq.  (continued). 

Pietism  and  Methodism. — 'Lutheranism  and  Episcopalianism. — Progress  of  the 
Philadelphia  congregation. — Muhlenberg  on  confirmation. — Relation  to 
politics. — He  sends  his  three  sons  to  Halle. — Handschuh's  death. — 
German  Benevolent  Society  of  Pennsylvania. — Erection  of  Zion  Church, 
Philadelphia.  —  Flourishing  condition  of  the  congregation. — Arrival  of 


CONTENTS.  XV 

Chr.  Em.  Schulze. — He  is  Muhlenberg's  colaborer  in  Philadelphia. — He 
follows  a  call  to  Tulpehoken. — Career  of  Krug,  Voigt,  Schmidt,  Helmuth. 
— Struggle  in  later  years  between  English  and  German  in  Philadelphia. — 
Organization  of  an  English  Lutheran  congregation 390 

CHAPTER    XXV. 

1766  et  seq. 

Provost  Wrangel  returns  to  Sweden. — His  relation  to  the  Episcopal  Church. — 
Muhlenberg's  eldest  son,  J.  Peter  Gabriel,  returns  from  Europe  and  devotes 
himself  to  the  study  of  theology. — His  further  career. — H.  M.  Miihlen- 
berg  again  visits  the  Raritan  congregations,  also  Easton,  Allentown,  Ma- 
cungie,  Salisbury,  Allemaengel,  and  White  Hall. — His  sons  Fred.  Aug. 
Conrad  and  G.  Henry  Ernest  return  from  Halle  prepared  for  pastoral 
work. — They  enter  upon  it. — Their  further  career. — Rev.  J.  Chr.  Kunze. 
— His  labors  in  Philadelphia,  and  later  in  New  York 420 

CHAPTER    XXVI. 

1773-1775. 

Miihlenberg  is  requested  to  pay  another  visit  to  Ebenezer,  Ga. — Difficulties  in 
this  congregation,  and  between  Rev.  Chr.  Rabenhorst  and  Rev.  Chr.  Fr. 
Triebner. — Muhlenberg's  manifold  cares  before  the  voyage. — Another  visit 
to  the  Raritan  churches. — Synodical  meeting  of  1773. — Members  of  synod. 
— Plans  for  a  theological  seminary  and  an  orphan-house. — Hartwig's  rest- 
lessness.— Difficulties  at  Reading. — Rev.  Ph.  J.  Grotz. — Miihlenberg  again 
visits  New  York. — His  son  Frederick  Aug.  pastor  of  the  German  Lutheran 
congregation  there. — Hausihl  pastor  of  the  Dutch  Lutheran  congregation. 
— The  Swedish  pastors  J.  Wicksell  and  Nic.  Collin. — Barren  Hill  and 
Germantown. — Rev.  J.  F.  Riess. — Rev.  J.  Chr.  Leps  of  Loonenburg. — : 
Muhlenberg's  letters  to  Grotz  and  to  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  congre- 
gation at  Charleston,  S.  C. — Corner-stone  of  a  church  laid  at  Pikestown  .  443 

CHAPTER    XXVII. 

I773~I775  (continued}. 

Voyage  to  Charleston,  Savannah,  and  Ebenezer. — Muhlenberg  at  Charleston. 
— His  interest  in  the  Lutherans  there  and  in  other  localities  in  South 
Carolina. — Rev.  Messrs.  Daser,  Martin,  Hochheimer,  Hahnbaum,  Chr. 
Streit. — Muhlenberg's  idea  of  a  practical  theological  seminary. — Arrival 
at  Savannah. — Rev.  Joach.  Ziibly,  D.  D. — Rabenhorst  and  Triebner  visit 
Miihlenberg  and  acknowledge  his  authority. — He  arrives  at  Ebenezer. — 
The  two  parties  in  the  congregation. — Mutual  charges. — Divided  services. 
— Attempts  at  reconciliation. — Rabenhoijst's  accounts  found  correct. — 
Preparation  of  a  new  constitution  for  the  congregation.  —  Its  adoption. 
— Rabenhorst's  Christian  character  vindicated. — Muhlenberg's  return  to 
Philadelphia 457 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XXVIII. 
1773-1775  (continued}. 

PAGE 

Sickness  of  Dr.  Kunze. — Political  aspects. — Reports  and  insinuations  against 
Muhlenberg. — He  visits  Reading,  Tulpehoken,  Pikestown. — The  Germans 
of  Philadelphia  in  the  political  conflict. — Christopher  Ludwig. — Miihlen- 
berg's  opinion  of  General  Washington. — The  Hebron  congregation  in 
Virginia. — H.  Moeller. — J.  Frank. — Acquisition  of  a  cemetery  by  the 
Philadelphia  congregation 480 

CHAPTER    XXIX. 

1776  et  seq. 

Miihlenberg  again  settles  with  his  family  at  Providence. — Death  of  Ziegenha- 
gen  and  Sigismund  Streit.— Streit's  legacy. — Muhlenberg's  decreasing 
strength  and  loss  of  hearing. — Last  attendance  at  synod. — He  is  created 
doctor  of  divinity. — End  of  his  official'  relation  to  the  Philadelphia  con- 
gregation.— His  labors  in  behalf  of  the  proposed  hymnbook  of  the  Minis- 
terium.  —  The  first  edition  of  the  Liturgy. — Muhlenberg's  conservative 
principles  on  church  services. — His  private  reading. — His  meditations  on 
the  Bible. — Aversion  to  Neology  and  irreligious  tendencies. — Specimens 
of  his  correspondence. — Letters  exchanged  with  Wrangel. — News  from 
Ebenezer. — Rev.  J.  E.  Bergmann. — Miihlenberg  and  the  medical  art  .  490 

CHAPTER    XXX. 
1776-1787. 

Respect  shown  to  their  senior,  Muhlenberg,  by  the  Ministerium. — He  is  lov- 
ingly remembered  at  Halle. — Sebast.  Andr.  Fabricius.  —  Muhlenberg's 
last  pastoral  acts. — His  last  sickness  and  his  death. — Respect  shown  to  his 
memory  throughout  the  Church. — Memorial  sermons  preached  by  Rev. 
Drs.  Helmuth  and  Kunze. — Their  delineation  of  Muhlenberg's  person- 
ality and  work. — His  descendants. — His  grave,  and  the  inscription 
thereon 517 


LIFE    AND   TIMES 

OF 

HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG. 


CHAPTER   I. 

1711-1738.  *-•   *'*.:** • "'  **.; 

Birth. — Birthplace. — Parentage  and  family. — First  school-years. — Longing  for 
higher  education. — Zellerfeld. — Gottingen. — Spiritual  awakening. — Pietism. — 
Prof.  Oporin,  D.  D. — Patrons  of  high  standing. — Beginning  of  charity  school. 
— First  exercises  in  practical  theology. — Enters  the  Halle  Orphan-House  as 
teacher. 

ON  the  6th  of  Sept.,  1711,  HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG 
was  born  at  Eimbeck,  a  town  of  Hanover,  then  one  of 
the  electoral   principalities  of  Germany,  now  a  province  of 
Prussia  and  the  re-established  German  Empire. 

The  history  of  Eimbeck  (or  Einbeck)  leads  us  back  into 
the  eleventh  and  twelfth  centuries  of  the  Christian  era.  It 
seems  that  two  ecclesiastical  institutions  founded  there  formed 
the  nucleus  around  which  in  the  course  of  time  the  town  grew 
up.  It  numbered,  in  times  before  the  Reformation  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  twelve  thousand  inhabitants,  and  was  con- 
nected with  the  great  commercial  confederation  called  Hansa. 
Though  strongly  fortified,  it  was  taken  during  the  Thirty 
Years'  War,  after  a  second  siege,  by  the  Roman  Catholic 
armies.  In  1718  the  traces  of  the  terrible  devastation  were 
still  plainly  visible,  when  King  George  I.  of  England,  as  elec- 
toral prince  of  Hanover,  by  orders  from  London,  took  decisive 
measures  to  restore  and  beautify  the  town.  Eimbeck  is  now, 
though  the  number  of  its  inhabitants  has  been  reduced  to 


2  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

about  seven  thousand,  a  place  of  considerable  industrial  activ- 
ity. In  mediaeval  times,  and  still  later,  one  article  was  there 
manufactured  which  carried  the  name  of  the  town  through 
the  German  Empire  and  far  beyond  its  limits.  This  article 
was  beer,  and  it  appears  even  in  the  history  of  Martin  Luther. 
When  he,  then  a  mere  monk,  on  Thursday  evening,  Apr.  18, 
1521,  came  out  of  the  fiery  ordeal  at  Worms  before  the  em- 
peror Charles  V.  and  other  potentates,  the  high  ecclesiastical 
dignitaries,  and  all  the  Diet— most  of  the  members  of  which 
had  taken  an  inimical  position  against  him — and  had  passed 
through  the  dense  crowd  curious  to  see  him,  the  Spaniards 
present  mi  tfce  assembly  hissed  at  him ;  but  many  Germans, 
thdugh'  at  that  time  not  siding  with  him,  could  not  but  admire 
;  .tHe'ib^rq'isvn  o£  the  man,  and  one  of  them,  Duke  Erich  of 
Brunswick,  'himself  closely  allied  to  the  papal  party,  offered 
him  a  silver  goblet  full  of  Eimbeck  beer.  It  is  related  that 
Luther,  when  he  heard  who  the  kind  donor  was,  said,  "  As 
Duke  Erich  remembered  me,  so  may  our  Lord  Christ  remem- 
ber him  in  his  last  agony !"  But  their  beer  did  not  prevent 
the  citizens  of  the  town  from  placing  the  proper  estimate  upon 
another  article  of  immensely  higher  value  when,  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God,  it  was  offered  to  them.  Eimbeck  was  among 
those  communities  which  soon  embraced  the  cause  of  the 
Reformation.  As  early  as  1528  adherents  of  the  new  doc- 
trine were*  members  of  the  town  council,  and  in  the  same  year 
the  first  Lutheran  pastor  was  called  to  serve  in  the  "  Market 
Church."  His  name  was  Conrad  Bolen.  Eimbeck  manifested 
its  firm  adherence  to  the  Lutheran  doctrines  by  subscribing, 
through  its  official  representatives,  to  the  Formula  of  Concord 
of  1580.  Whilst  the  history  of  the  town  offers  many  points 
of  interest,  and  some  of  the  ancient  church-buildings  still  tes- 
tify to  the  opulence  and  the  artistic  taste  of  its  inhabitants  in 
bygone  ages,  the  town  as  such  has,  in  consequence  of  a  num- 
ber of  disastrous  conflagrations,  rather  a  modern,  uninteresting 
appearance.  A  very  destructive  fire  took  place  in  1826,  and 
consumed,  among  others,  the  house  which  had  belonged  to 
the  Muhlenberg  family  and  witnessed  the  birth  of  Hen 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  3 

Melchior.  The  environs  of  the  town  present  no  romantic 
beauty:  neighboring  hills  prevent  the  view  of  the  bolder  Harz 
Mountains  toward  the  south.  The  whole  region,  however, 
is  fertile  and  well  cultivated. 

In  harmony  with  time-honored  custom,  Henry  Melchior 
Miihlenberg  was  baptized  on  the  day  of  his  birth.  His  father, 
Nicolaus  Melchior,  a  citizen  and  tradesman  of  Eimbeck,  in  the 
.  church-register  is  called  a  brewer — which  simply  means  that 
he  enjoyed  the  prerogative  of  a  privileged  class,  but  never 
made  use  of  it — and  is  also  introduced  to  us  as  a  deacon  in 
the  church  to  which  the  family  belonged.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  a  brother  of  Henry  Melchior  was  in  baptism  given  the 
name  John  Arndt,  which  may  well  be  taken  as  evidence  that 
John  Arndt,  the  godly  author  of  the  renowned  work  True 
Christianity,  stood  high  in  the  estimation  of  father  N.  M. 
Miihlenberg.  We  know  that  a  number  of  other  children 
were  born  to  him,  the  first  one  of  whom  may  have  been  Use 
Mary,  who  is  entered  in  the  church-register  as  having  seen 
the  light  of  this  world  on  Sept.  II,  1700.  But  not  even  the 
name  of  the  mother  is  there  given.  The  church-registers, 
.which  antecedent  to  1700  are  very  defective  at  Eimbeck,  give 
us  no  clue  to  the  earlier  history  of  the  family.  There  is  a 
tradition  that  the  Miihlenbergs  had  immigrated  to  Eimbeck 
from  Bohemia^  If  this  be  so,  we  are  not  risking  too  much 
in  supposing  that  they  belonged  to  the  thousands  who,  on 
account  of  their  fidelity  to  evangelical  principles,  suffered  per- 
secution in  that  country.  The  name  of  the  partner  for  life 
of  Nicolaus  Melchior  Miihlenberg  was  Anna  Mary  Klein- 
schmid.  Her  father  was  an  officer  in  military  service.  Henry 
Melchior  Miihlenberg  saw  his  mother  the  last  time  when,  in 
1742,  on  his  way  to  America,  he  took  farewell  of  his  relatives 
at  Eimbeck.  She  died  in  1747:  her  husband  had,  through 
an  attack  of  palsy,  been  suddenly  taken  away  from  her  soon 
after  the  confirmation  of  her  son  Henry  Melchior  in  1723. 
It  is  stated  that  the  name  Miihlenberg  is  now  not  unfrequently 
found  in  neighboring  towns  and  villages.  In  Eimbeck  we  do 
not  now  meet  with  it.  Yet  descendants  of  the  female  side 


4  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

appear  to  be  now  living  there,  and  a  garden  belonging  to 
them  was  shown  to  a  friend  of  ours  visiting  the  town. 

Genealogical  and  heraldic  works  on  the  ancient  noble  fam- 
ilies of  Germany  state  that  the  Von  Muhlenbergs  were  recog- 
nized in  times  before  the  Thirty  Years' War  (1618-48)  as 
among  the  old  baronial  families  of  the  empire  ;  that  they 
derive  their  origin  from  Ziracka,  a  prince  of  the  Wendish  and 
Sorbic  tribes ;  that  about  the  year  950  A.  D.  he  was  converted 
to  Christianity ;  that  he  had  his  residence  near  the  present 
Muhlberg,  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Elbe  River  in  the  Merse- 
burg  district  of  Prussian  Saxony.  In  the  neighborhood  of 
this  town,  Muhlberg,  the  electoral  prince  John  Frederick,  after 
an  unfortunate  battle,  fell  April  24,  1547,  into  the  hands  of 
the  emperor  Charles  V.  Mills  (Muhlen  in  German)  erected 
in  that  locality  gave  name  to  the  town,  and  subsequently  also 
to  the  family  reigning  there,  which  increased,  and  in  the  course 
of  time  acquired  large  possessions  in  Saxony,  Austrian  Sile- 
sia, and  other  parts.  In  the  escutcheon  of  the  family  were  two 
wheels,  and  the  members  of  it  signed  themselves  "  of  the 
Miihlenberg."  The  ancestral  prince  was,  as  a  vassal  of  the 
bishop  of  Naumburg,  received  into  the  nobility  of  Germany. 
His  son  Bonifacius,  apparelled  in  a  coat  of  mail,  accompanied 
Emperor  Otto  (unfortunately,  our  sources  leave  us  in  doubt 
as  to  which  of  the  three  Ottos)  on  an  expedition  to  Italy,  and 
was  rewarded  for  his  services  with  valuable  privileges.  Vari- 
ous members  of  the  family  made  themselves  eminent  in  war 
and  peace,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
family  is  still  counted  among  the  prominent  and  wealthy 
nobility.  But  during  the  wars  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
especially  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  some  of  its  branches  died 
out,  and  others  were,  like  many  noble  families,  greatly  reduced 
in  circumstances.  After  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century 
the  name  is  no  longer  found  on  the  roll  of  the  nobles  of  the 
empire,  and  the  family  never  made  any  attempt  to  have  their 
title  acknowledged  and  restored  by  the  imperial  court  of 
heraldry  at  Vienna. 

From  his  seventh  to  his  twelfth  year  H.  M.  Miihlenberg 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  5 

was  sent  by  his  father  to  the  larger  one  of  the  two  classical 
schools  at  that  time  existing  at  Eimbeck.  Here,  going 
through  the  three  lowest  classes,  he  laid  the  foundation  of 
his  knowledge  of  the  Latin  language,  in  which  he  many  years 
later  addressed  at  various  synodical  meetings  the  clergy  over 
whom  he  was  made  the  presiding  officer.  In  his  twelfth  year 
he  was,  by  the  rite  of  confirmation,  received  into  membership 
of  the  Lutheran  Church.  We  have  some  relics  in  writing 
from  the  hand  of  the  youth,  which  not  only  indicate  his 
child-like  faith,  but  also  a  certain  independence  of  religious 
thought  and  a  ready  facility  in  expressing  his  devotional 
sentiments  in  the  form  of  poetry.  There  is  preserved  a  family 
Bible,  large  folio,  printed  in  1/19.  In  it,  which  tradition 
views  as  once  the  property  of  Henry  Melchior  Miihlenberg, 
was  found  a  marriage  contract  signed  both  by  other  witnesses 
and  also  by  him.  On  the  first  and  last  blank  leaf  of  that  Bible 
we  find  short  rhymes,  apparently  written  by  his  hand.  Of 
course  the  youthful  poet  never  thought  that  any  of  these 
verses  would  ever  see  the  light  so  as  to  become  public.  But 
we  think  it  quite  proper  to  lay  before  our  readers  at  least  one 
specimen  of  them  in  translation.  Referring  to  the  narrative 
about  the  man  whose  withered  hand  Jesus  healed  (Matt.  xii. 
10-13),  we  find  the  following  couplets,  which  are  indeed  much 
more  than  rhymes : 

"  Two  hands,  both  fresh  and  strong,  did  my  Creator  give : 
They  shall  not  idle  be  as  long  as  I  may  live; 
'First  I  will  raise  them  up  to  God  to  praise  and  pray, 
And  then  they  may  begin  what  labor  brings  each  day; 
In  truth,  I'll  never  forget  the   Ora, 
And  with  it,  hand-in-hand,  I'll  practise  the  Labora  /" 

Certainly,  this  is  satisfactory  evidence  that  the  youth  intel- 
ligently appropriated  and  applied  the  Word  of  God  as  he  read 
it  or  was  instructed  in  it.  When  writing  in  later  years  his  auto- 
biography, he  severely  criticises  the  ways  of  thinking  and  acting 
in  his  boyhood,  and  the  evil  influences  of  some  of  his  school- 
mates. We  can  admire  the  moral  sensitiveness  of  the  ripe 


6  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Christian  character  of  the  man,  and  wish  that  all  youths  would 
share  in  that  appreciation  of  the  divine  truth  and  in  that  respect 
for  it  which  we  trace  in  him. 

It  seems  that  H.  M.  Muhlenberg  had  neither  the  inclination 
nor  the  time  to  spend  the  years  of  youth  in  "  sowing  wild  oats  " 
or  in  dreamy  sentimentalism.  The  course  of  school  education 
was  short  enough.  After  the  death  of  the  father — on  which 
sad  occasion  the  son  received,  as  he  tells  us,  the  first  deep  re- 
ligious impressions  and  was  most  seriously  affected — we  find 
him  up  to  his  eighteenth  year  engaged  in  assisting  one 
of  his  brothers  in  his  trade.  His  natural  instincts,  however, 
could  not  be  thwarted,  and  hence  the  longing  for  knowledge 
and  a  higher  education  was  irrepressible.  The  family  tradi- 
tion will  have  it  that  he  clandestinely  devoted  every  free 
moment  to  his  books,  and  that  in  a  barn  he  made  his  first 
homiletical  attempts  by  preaching  to  the  bare  walls.  Did  not 
St.  Franciscus  of  Assisi  preach  to  the  fish  in  the  sea?  How- 
ever that  may  be,  the  result  was  that  after  some  time  H.  M. 
Muhlenberg  was  permitted  to  devote  his  evening  hours  to 
study ;  that  the  superintendent  of  the  highest  classical  school 
— schola  senatoria — of  the  town,  His  Worthiness  Herr  Rector 
John  Joachim  Schiisster,  taking  an  interest  in  the  young  and 
ardent  Henry,  began  to  give  him  private  instruction,  and 
finally  admitted  him  to  the  public  school,  and  then  into  the 
highest  class,  to  the  great  chagrin  of  the  mischievous  urchins, 
who  were  quite  disinclined  to  tolerate  one  in  all  respects  so 
much  above  them.  Nor  was  this  all :  Henry  made  rapid 
progress  in  arithmetic,  Latin,  Greek,  and  other  branches,  and 
in  addition  to  all  th'is  he  managed  to  cultivate  music,  which, 
according  to  the  high  authority  of  Martin  Luther,  comes  next 
to  theology,  and  proved  quite  a  master  not  only  in  singing — 
his  beautiful  tenor  voice  often  gained  him  favors  from  those 
of  high  station  in  society  more  valuable  than  mere  admira- 
tion— but  he  became  also  a  skilful  performer  on  the  clavichord 
and  the  organ.  We  shall  hereafter  discover  that  this  musical 
accomplishment  of  H.  M.  Muhlenberg  was  conducive  in  bring- 
ing aboqt  at  a  later  period  of  his  life  a  harmony  of  a  totally 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  J 

different  character,  and  at  all  times  proved  to  him  a  most 
valuable  assistance  in  his  pastoral  work. 

From  the  spring  of  1733  to  the  autumn  of  the  following 
year  we  find  H.  M.  Miihlenberg  continuing  his  studies  at  the 
classical  school  of  Zellerfeld,  situated  east  of  Eimbeck  on  one 
of  the  high  plateaus  stretching  forth  from  the  Harz  Moun- 
tains. That  school  enjoyed  at  that  time  a  very  high  reputa- 
tion. Under  the  guidance  of  Rector  Raphel,  A.  M.,  who  gave 
to  the  zealous  student  of  Eimbeck  much  active  sympathy,  he 
made  considerable  progress  in  mastering  the  more  difficult 
Roman  authors  and  the  Greek  style  of  the  New  Testament. 
He  found  here  occasion  not  only  to  extend  his  attainments 
in  music  and  other  branches  of  education,  but  also  to  in- 
struct a  class  of  about  eighteen  children  j  which  employment 
enlarged  his  experience  and  qualified  him  in  a  direction  so 
important  in  the  pastoral  office.  He  likewise  began  the  study 
of  Hebrew  and  of  French,  making  very  good  use  of  time  and 
opportunities,  though,  in  complaining  in  his  autobiography  of 
certain  dangerous  impressions  made  upon  him  in  the  social 
circles  to  which  he  was  there  introduced,  he  censures  himself 
severely. 

On  March  19,  1735,  we  find  our  friend  on  the  road  to  the 
University  of  Gottingen,  established  in  that  year.  He  was 
consequently  one  of  the  first  students  of  that  Alma  Mater, 
and  one  of  whom  she  still  may  be  proud.  During  the  pre- 
ceding winter  he  had  diligently  continued  his  studies  at  Eim- 
beck. It  seems  to  have  been  generally  understood  among  the 
relatives  and  friends  that  Henry  was  intended  for  a  learned 
profession,  and  that  a  thorough  education  would  best  qualify 
him  for  the  mission  of  his  life.  His  mother  was  willing  with 
a  loving  heart  to  do  her  share  and  to  assist  the  student  son 
to  the  best  of  her  ability.  And,  more  than  this,  Providence 
directed  the  hearts  of  the  members  of  the  council  of  Eimbeck 
in  such  a  manner  that  they  gave  our  aspiring  friend  the  use  of 
a  stipend  under  their  control  which  at  least  for  a  year  offered 
to  him  free  board  at  Gottingen.  This  appears  also  an  incon- 
trovertible argument  to  us  that  they  entertained  of  their  favor- 


8  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

ite  an  opinion  much  better  than,  when  writing  in  later  years,  he 
in  his  humility  thought  himself  entitled  to. 

German  university-  and  student-life  is,  even  in  our  times,  to 
some  extent  an  anomalous  social  phenomenon.  It  is  a  prac- 
tical anachronism.  The  freedom  in  various  respects  enjoyed 
by  the  sons  of  those  Alma  Matres  reminds  us  of  a  republic 
in  the  midst  of  a  monarchy,  and  those  sons  make  even  now 
not  unfrequently  a  rather  dangerous  and  objectionable  use  of 
their  mothers'  indulgence.  But  in  those  times,  when  H.  M. 
Muhlenberg  was  matriculated  as  a  civis  academicus  at  Gottin- 
gen,  German  universities,  though  truly  centres  of  learning — 
universitates  literarum — were  in  a  moral  aspect,  as  to  the  life 
and  manners  of  many  or  most  of  the  students,  not  garden- 
spots  in  the  desert,  but  a  howling  wilderness  in  the  midst  of 
cultivated  lands.  There  the  unrestrained  young  animal  spirits 
broke  out  in  the  rudest  and  crudest  manners  and  barbarous 
freaks.  Muhlenberg  narrates  that  after  his  arrival  at  Got- 
tingen  some  wild  fellows  had  in  a  nightly  brawl  killed  a 
watchman.  Students  not  joining  with  the  brutal  companion- 
ship were  often  exposed  to  the  ridicule  and  contemptuous 
treatment  of  the  rougher  classes  by  a  terrorism  which  the 
civil  authorities  did  not  properly  oppose.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances many  a  youth  was  misled.  From  such  an  effect 
Muhlenberg  was  protected,  not  only  to  some  extent  by  his 
riper  years,  but  much  more  by  the  better  Christian  moral 
principles  implanted  in  his  heart.  And,  providentially,  he 
formed  a  friendship  with  young  men,  also  fellow-students, 
three  of  them,  like  himself,  natives  of  Eimbeck,  who  were  of 
a  decidedly  religious  turn  of  mind,  and  exercised  a  most 
salutary  influence  upon  their  new  associate.  Through  them 
Muhlenberg  came  the  first  time  in  contact  with  that  spirit  and 
that  form  of  piety  which,  having  originally  been  represented  by 
the  learned  theologian  Phil.  Jac.  Spener,  had  made  manifest 
its  decidedly  practical  character  through  Hermann  August 
Francke  of  Halle  in  the  founding  of  the  celebrated  Orphan- 
House  and  the  literary  and  educational  institutions  connected 
with  it,  in  his  efforts  to  advance  God's  kingdom  on  earth  by 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  9 

means  of  missions  in  foreign  lands,  by  spreading  the  Bible 
among  the  masses  of  the  people,  and  by  other  instrumental- 
ities. These  great  institutions  at  Halle  were  most  important 
elements  in  the  education  of  hundreds  of  young  men  who 
visited  the  university  of  the  same  place,  founded  A.  D.  1674  by 
King  Frederick  I.,  grandfather  of  Frederick  the  Great,  and 
had  there  a  most  excellent  opportunity  to  prepare  themselves 
at  the  same  time  for  the  practical  work  of  the  Church. 

A  number  of  circumstances  combined  to  confirm  Miihlen- 
berg  in  the  religious  turn  his  mind  had  taken.  He  refers  in 
this  connection  to  the  influences  which  the  lectures  of  his 
teachers,  especially  on  dogmatics,  ethics,  and  homiletics,  exer- 
cised upon  him.  Certainly,  schools  of  theology  ought  to  be 
not  simply  schools  of  scholastic  instruction,  but  should  shape 
as  much  as  possible  the  minds  of  the  students  and  properly 
form  their  characters  for  the  sacred  office  which  is  in  prospect 
for  them.  Of  course  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  fire 
is  the  indispensable  prerequisite  for  a  preacher  of  the  gospel.  A 
theologian,  ever  so  learned,  without  the  touch  of  the  prophetic 
spirit  will  not  fulfil  his  mission.  Of  this  Miihlenberg  seems 
to  have  been  fully  convinced  as  a  student.  He  considered  it 
a  special  and  most  favorable  dispensation  of  Providence  that 
the  Rev.  Prof.  Oporin,  D.  D.  (a  learned  man  of  this  name  had 
in  the  sixteenth  century  been  professor  of  theology  at  the 
Basel  University),  took  him  into  his  house,  made  him  his  pri- 
vate secretary,  and  gave  him  free  board  and  a  room  for  his  own 
use.  Certainly,  this  is  ample  proof  of  the  esteem  in  which 
the  professor  held  his  student  and  of  the  confidence  he  placed 
in  him.  Dr.  Oporin  is  the  author  of  a  work  on  homiletics 
— viz.  Ancient  and  Only  Rule  for  a  Convincing  and  Effective 
Manner  of  Preaching,  2  parts,  1736-37.  He  there  opposes 
the  dangerous  influences  of  the  Wolfian  philosophy  upon 
preaching,  which  under  utilitarian  pretexts  led  to  rationalism. 
Oporin  died  in  1753.  His  memory  was  for  ever  endeared  to 
Miihlenberg,  who  greatly  profited  by  his  daily  intercourse  with 
such  an  excellent  teacher  and  friend,  and  as  a  member  of  his 
household  derived  various  social  advantages.  He  remembered 


10  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

sayings  of  Oporin  even  after  the  lapse  of  many  years ;  of  this 
we  have  an  instance  in  the  Halle  Reports,  p.  787,  1st  edit.  Even 
in  his  diary  of  1779,  under  March  2d,  he  introduces,  not  with- 
out a  quaint  humor,  Oporin's  peculiar  manner  of  criticising 
sermons  composed  by  students  of  the  classes  before  him.  He 
there  says  :  "  Dr.  Oporin  was  accustomed  first  to  pay  attention 
to  what  physics  or  moralities  deserved  some  praise :  when  by 
this  bland  treatment  self-love  felt  itself  flattered,  the  old 
Adam,  like  a  cat,  would  raise  up  his  tail  well  pleased ;  but  all 
at  once  things  took  a  sudden  turn  and  the  critical  eye  would  eat 
away  the  proud  flesh,  without  moving  any  one  to  anger,  since 
the  preceding  encomium  had  operated  as  captatio  benevolentice" 

It  was  a  fortunate  circumstance  that  Miihlenberg's  residence 
with  one  of  his  professors  not  only  removed  the  young  stu- 
dent from  intimate  intercourse  with  students  of  lower  tenden- 
cies, but  afforded  him  the  opportunity  to  be  introduced  to 
persons  of  higher  standing.  Among  these  he  mentions  Herr 
von  Munchhausen,  high  sheriff  of  Hanover,  who  granted  to 
his  young  protege  certain  benefices  which  went  far  to  secure 
to  him  a  three  years'  course  at  the  university,  and  the  count  of 
Wernigerode,  who  permitted  him  to  be  present  in  his  apart- 
ments at  the  hours  when  devotional  exercises  from  time  to 
time  were  held  there.  Intercourse  with  persons  of  high  social 
standing  and  refined  tastes  is  calculated  to  teach  polite  man- 
ners, which  often  prove  to  young  people  a  substantial  advan- 
tage in  their  intercourse  with  others. 

In  the  year  1736,  Muhlenberg,  conjointly  with  two  other 
students  of  theology,  rented  a  room  and  began  to  instruct 
poor  ignorant,  neglected  children  in  spelling,  reading,  writing, 
and  the  Catechism,  the  teachers  deriving  no  pecuniary  advan- 
tage from  their  labors.*  Yet  some  members  of  the  Gottingen 

*  Rev.  J.  Chr.  Kunze,  D.  D.,  says  in  his  sermon,  preached  after  the  death  of 
H.  M.  Muhlenberg,  his  father-in-law,  in  New  York  on  the  nineteenth  Sunday  after 
Trinity.  1787  :  "When  the  illustrious  prince,  at  that  time  Count  Henry  XI.  Reuss, 
still  living,  as  a  student  sojourned  at  Gottingen,  moved  by  his  godly  tutor,  after- 
ward Chancellor  Riesenbeck,  he  established  a  school  in  behalf  of  poor,  neglected, 
begging  children,  and,  endeavoring  to  find  as  instructor  for  them  a  truly  converted 
student,  selected  our  late  senior."  This  was  H.  M.  Muhlenberg. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  II 

clergy,  with  some  of  the  public  school-teachers,  lodged  com- 
plaint against  this  charitable  enterprise  as  a  new  movement 
fraught  with  dangers.  But  one  of  the  representatives  of  the 
aristocracy  favoring  Miihlenberg  with  their  confidence,  the 
Count  Reuss,  took  up  the  good  cause,  gave  it  into  the  hands 
of  his  legal  adviser,  Dr.  Riesenbeck,  and  thus  it  came  to  pass 
that  the  government  indorsed  the  course  of  the  students  and 
placed  their  charity  school  under  the  supervision  of  the  theo- 
logical faculty.  The  consequence  was  that  attention  was 
attracted  to  the  school,  contributions  were  cheerfully  given, 
the  work  proceeded,  and  the  students  were  benefited  by  the 
opportunity  of  exercising  the  art  of  teaching  and  catechising. 
Out  of  this  small  enterprise  grew  in  the  course  of  time*  the 
Gottingen  Orphan-House,  still  existing  under  the  supervision 
of  the  theological  faculty.  It  offered  at  various  times  shelter 
to  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  children.  Even  now 
the  students  of  theology  exercise  themselves  there  in  preach- 
ing and  catechising.  It  appears  that  a  Mr.  Borries,  a  citizen 
of  Muhlenberg's  native  town,  Eimbeck,  furnished  the  means 
and  took  the  first  steps  to  transform  the  charity  school  begun 
by  Miihlenberg  and  his  colaborers  into  an  orphan-house.  We 
also  know  that  Dr.  Oporin,  as  dean  of  the  faculty,  published 
some  of  the  yearly  reports  of  the  institution,  in  one  of  which 
(of  1/50)  he  honorably  mentions  the  liberal  gifts  of  Counsel- 
lor von  Borries  and,  after  his  death,  of  the  family. 

In  the  year  1737,  Miihlenberg  had  advanced  so  far  that  he 
was  enrolled  among  those  students  who  from  time  to  time 
had  to  preach  in  the  University  church,  and  also  to  catechise 
there,  for  which  purpose  the  children  of  the  charity  school 
were  required  to  appear  once  a  week.  It  was  certainly  grat- 
ifying to  the  young  aspirant  for  the  sacred  office,  and  calcu- 
lated to  stimulate  him  to  his  best  efforts,  that  Count  Reuss 
invited  him  to  lecture  in  his  aristocratic  mansion  at  stated 
times  on  theological  and  religious  topics.  It  is  a  fact  well 
deserving  notice  that  a  very  considerable  number  of  the  first 
aristocratic  families  of  Germany — among  them  the  princes 
of  Wernigerode,  Counts  Stolberg,  Reuss,  Isenburg,  Solms, 


12  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Dohna,  Saalfeld,  Henkel — were  at  that  time  in  sincere  sym- 
pathy with  the  religious  movement  to  which  Phil  Jacob 
Spener  had  given  the  most  energetic  impetus,  and  assisted 
all  the  charitable  enterprises  proceeding  from  it  in  the  most 
liberal  manner.  They  also  took  pleasure  in  favoring  and 
assisting  young  men  of  the  character  of  H.  M.  Miihlenberg. 
When,  in  the  spring  of  1738,  after  attending  finally  to  a  spe- 
cial course  of  lectures  on  the  symbolical  books  of  the  Luther- 
an Church,  he  had  graduated,  the  Counts  Reuss  of  Koestritz 
and  Henkel  of  Poeltzig — two  places  then  held  in  high  esteem 
in  the  Pietistic  circles  of  Germany — entertained  the  idea  of 
placing  the  young  candidate  for  the  ministerial  office  in  a 
pastoral  charge,  but  resolved,  after  due  deliberation,  that  he 
should  enter  the  Orphan-House  and  charitable  institutions 
connected  with  it  at  Halle  as  a  teacher — a  resolution  which, 
under  Divine  Providence,  decided  the  future  course  and  the 
mission  of  his  life. 

Leaving  Gottingen,  he  spent  some  time  at  the  University 
of  Jena,  visited,  by  special  invitation  of  Count  Reuss,  Koes- 
tritz ;  proceeded  to  Halle,  left  again  on  account  of  his  private 
affairs  for  Eimbeck ;  visited  Wernigerode,  where  by  invitation 
he  was  present  at  a  pastoral  conference ;  Hanover  and  other 
places,  at  which  he  met  friends  whose  sympathy,  experience, 
and  advice  were  of  value  to  him ;  and  at  Eimbeck  preached  on 
several  occasions  and  had  private  conversations  on  spiritual 
matters  with  various  individuals.  Then,  having  taken  an 
affectionate  farewell  at  Gottingen  of  his  patrons  and  friends 
in  high  and  low  positions,  he  entered  upon  his  duties  at  Halle, 
and  as  a  teacher  went  through  the  usual  routine  there  estab- 
lished. For  a  few  weeks  he  was  put  on  probation  as  a  teacher 
of  the  smallest  children ;  then  he  was  advanced  to  have  charge 
of  higher  classes,  superintended  eight  boys  in  their  room ;  and 
in  the  management  of  this  small  flock  entrusted  to  his  care  as 
teacher  gained  new  experience  and  new  lessons  in  practical 
Christianity.  After  going  through  this  course,  it  was  made 
his  duty  in  the  higher  classes  of  those  extensive  institutions 
to  give  instruction  in  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  in  some  theological 


HENRY  MELCHIOR   MUHLENBERG.  13 

branches,  and  he  was  appointed  "  inspector  "  of  a  ward  of  the 
sick,  which  office  brought  him  into  close  connection  with 
Prof.  Junker,  M.  D.,  and  with  his  subordinates,  and  gave  him 
opportunity  to  acquire  some  knowledge  of  the  medical  art, 
which  he  had  ample  occasion  to  make  good  use  of  in  the 
future  years  of  his  life. 


14  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  II. 
1739-1742- 

Selected  as  a  missionary  for  East  India.  —  Frustration  of  this  plan. — G.  A. 
Francke,  D.  D. — Christian  work  at  Halle. — Herr  von  Canstein  and  the 
first  Bible  society. — Fr.  M.  Ziegenhagen,  D.  D. — Call  to  Grosshenners- 
dorf. — Baroness  Gersdorf. — Acceptance  of  the  call. — Examination  and  ordi- 
nation at  Leipsic. — Enters  upon  his  duties  at  Grosshennersdorf. — Orphan- 
House  and  other  charitable  institutions  there. — The  Bohemian  colony. — 
Embarrassing  circumstances. — Visit  to  -Eimbeck  and  Halle. — Call  to  the  dis- 
persed Lutherans  in  Pennsylvania. — Return  to  Grosshennersdorf. — Apology 
for  private  conventicles. — Balthasar  Mentzer,  D.  D. — Departure  from  Gross- 
hennersdorf.— Journey  to  Halle. 

HAVING  labored  for  a  year  at  Halle,  Muhlenberg  re- 
ceived pressing  invitations  to  return  to  Gottingen 
and  to  take  charge  of  the  charity  school  formerly  conducted 
there  by  him  and  two  fellow-students,  which  had  already 
assumed  larger  proportions.  But  a  warm  friend  and  well- 
wisher,  Councillor  Cellarius,  who  occupied  rooms  in  the 
Orphan-House,  opposed  this  plan,  confidentially  informing 
him  that  the  directors  of  the  institution,  the  Right  Reverend 
Fathers,  as  Mlihlenberg  is  wont  to  speak  of  them,  intended  to 
send  him  as  a  missionary  to  East  India.  Among  those  worthy 
men  Gotthilf  August  Francke,  the  son  of  August  Hermann 
Francke,  the  celebrated  founder  of  the  charitable  institutions 
at  Halle,  and  a  typical  representative  of  Pietism  in  its  first 
and  purer  form,  deserves  special  mention,  since  he  greatly 
influenced  the  turn  which  H.  M.  Miihlenberg's  life  took,  and 
kept  up  correspondence  with  him  until  the  end  of  his  useful 
career,  Sept.  2,  1769.  Not  only  at  the  head  of  the  institutions 
founded  by  his  father,  but  also  as  professor  of  theology  in  the 
Halle  University,  he  exercised  a  great  influence  upon  the 
minds  of  a  large  number  of  candidates  for  the  sacred  office 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  15 

by  giving  them  solid  information  and  by  pointing  out  to  them, 
by  his  example  no  less  than  by  his  teaching,  the  value  of 
personal  and  practical  piety.  In  this  good  work  he  was 
assisted  by  colleagues  in  the  professorial  office  and  in  the 
management  of  the  institutions,  and  by  a  number  of  pastors 
in  Halle.  They  were  men  moved  by  a  holy  zeal :  while  they 
in  their  time  were  very  averse  to  any  interference  with  the 
landmarks  of  the  Lutheran  Church  and  creed,  to  which  their 
convictions  bound  them,  they  united  with  those  conserva- 
tive principles  a  deep  interest  in  the  personal  appropriation 
of  saving  truth  and  in  the  practical  questions  of  Christianity, 
which  in  former  times  had  not  often  found  among  theologians 
the  serious  attention  they  deserved.  They  made  Halle  a  cen- 
tre for  the  cause  of  the  orphan,  for  elementary  and  for  higher 
education  on  truly  Christian  principles,  for  missions,  and  for  the 
spreading  of  the  Bible  among  the  masses  of  the  people.  In 
fact,  the  first  Bible  society,  growing  out  of  a  small  beginning 
of  Herr  von  Canstein,  a  pious  nobleman,  was  a  part  of  the 
Halle  institutions,  and  still  exists  there.  The  cause  of  mis- 
sions brought  them  into  sympathy  and  correspondence  with 
godly  men  in  various  countries.  Among  them  we  have  to 
mention  the  name  of  one  often  appearing  in  the  sequel  of  our 
narrative,  the  Rev.  Fred.  Mich.  Ziegenhagen,  D.  D.,  German 
court-preacher  at  London,  who  there  became  a  fatherly  friend 
and  adviser  to  many  missionaries  coming  from  Halle.  He 
died  at  London,  Jan.  24,  1776,  in  the  eighty-third  year  of 
his  most  useful  and  exemplary  career. 

Miihlenberg  had  in  May,  1738,  paid  his  first  visit  to 
Halle.  We  know  that  soon  afterward  he  began  his  duties  as 
a  regularly  installed  teacher  in  the  Francke  institutions.  Those 
schools  contained  in  the  times  of  Miihlenberg  no  less'  than 
between  two  and  three  thousand  scholars.  Classics  were  rep- 
resented as  well  as  the  usual  branches  of  elementary  educa- 
tion. The  design  of  sending  Muhlenberg  as  a  missionary  to 
East  India  was  indeed  entertained  at  Halle.  Missionaries 
had  gone  thence  to  preach  Christ  and  Him  crucified  to  the 
heathen  at  Malabar.  A.  H.  Francke's  advice  guided  King 


1 6  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Frederick  IV.  of  Denmark  in  his  attempts  to  find  the  proper 
workmen  for  that  field  of  labor.  Ziegenbalg  and  Plutschau — 
names  endeared  to  every  friend  of  evangelical  missions — had 
for  a  time  been  sojourning  at  Halle  before  they  started  in 
1706  for  the  distant  land  in  the  sunny  South.  Christ.  Fred. 
Schwartz,  of  all  German  missionaries  of  the  last  century  in 
East  India  the  mosUsuccessful,  had  for  a  time  been  a  teacher 
in  the  Orphan-House,  and  had  received  instruction  in  Halle 
in  the  Tamil  language  from  missionary  Schulze,  who  had 
returned  to  Halle  from  Malabar,  where  he  had  built  on  the 
foundation  laid  by  Ziegenbalg.  The  leading  men  at  Halle 
were  heartily  interested  in  the  cause  of  missions,  and  knew 
from  experience  what  kind  of  men  that  field  of  labor  re- 
quired. That  they  directed  their  attention  now  to  H.  M. 
Muhlenberg  proves  that  they  thought  him  well  qualified 
for  that  kind  of  work.  They  had  intended  to  make  use  of 
him  in  a  new  field  in  Bengal.  Outward  circumstances  pre- 
vented the  execution  of  the  plan.  Meanwhile,  in  the  month 
of  July,  1739,  a  pressing  call  arrived  from  Count  Reuss 
that  Miihlenberg  should  at  once  enter  upon  a  pastoral 
charge  at  Grosshennersdorf  in  Upper  Lusatia.  Muhlenberg 
was,  however,  troubled  with  doubts  concerning  this  appoint- 
ment. It  seems  that  at  first  he  refused  to  acquiesce  in 
the  call.  But  as  it  was  urgently  repeated,  and  Dr.  Francke 
and  other  friends  insisted  upon  his  accepting  it,  various 
obstacles  being  in  the  way  of  his  entering  upon  the  mission- 
ary work  in  East  India,  he  resolved  for  the  present  to  proceed 
to  Upper  Lusatia  and  become  well  acquainted  with  this  field 
of  labor,  in  every  respect  new  to  him.  Thus  the  will  of  Prov- 
idence decided  his  future  career.  Two  weeks  after  he  had  left 
Halle,-  quite  unexpectedly  letters  arrived  from  Denmark  and 
from  England  requiring  that  without  any  delay  two  proper 
men  should  be  selected  for  the  Danish  and  for  the  English 
missions.  Muhlenberg  was  already  out  of  the  question. 

Grosshennersdorf,  the  birthplace  of  the  well-known  the- 
ologian and  exegete  Leopold  Eman.  Riickert,  D.  D.,  born 
1797,  who  died  as  professor  in  the  University  of  Jena  1871, 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  17 

and  had  been  (1819-25)  in  his  native  place  one  of  the  succes- 
sors of  Muhlenberg  in  the  pastoral  office,  is  situated  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  present  kingdom  of  Saxony,  not  far  from 
the  Bohemian  boundary  and  only  a  few  miles  south  of  Herrn- 
hut,  the  central  seat  of  Moravianism  and  the  head-quarters 
of  Count  Zinzendorf.  Thus  the  two  men  who  a  few  years 
later  came  into  conflict  with  each  other  in  Philadelphia 
were  for  a  time  near  neighbors.  We  know  that  Muhlenberg 
once  in  travelling  passed  through  Herrnhut.  The  Baroness 
von  Gersdorf,  the  sister  of  Zinzendorf's  mother,  who  had  at 
Grosshennersdorf  the  right  of  nominating  the  two  pastors  in 
charge  there,  was  a  relative  of  the  noble  family  Reuss ;  which 
connection  explains  why  the  preliminary  call  had  come  to 
Muhlenberg  through  Count  Reuss.  Baroness  Gersdorf,  in 
whose  house  Zinzendorf  had  sojourned  during  a  few  years  of 
his  childhood,  belonged  to  the  school  of  Spener,  as  did  also 
Zinzendorf  before  he  struck  out  on  a  path  of  his  own  selec- 
tion. She  wished  to  become  acquainted  with  Muhlenberg,  so 
as  to  be  able  to  act  advisedly  in  taking  such  a  responsible 
step.  Two  weeks  after  having  been  introduced  to  her  he  was 
requested  to  preach  in  the  town.  The  result  was  that  on 
Aug.  12,  1/39,  a  formal  call  was  given  to  him.  On  that  occa- 
sion Abt  Steinmetz,  a  man  of  godly  character  and  high  esteem 
in  pious  circles  of  Germany,  superintendent  of  the  classical 
school  at  Klosterbergen  near  Magdeburg — the  place  from 
which  in  1580  the  Formula  of  Concord  emanated — was  pres- 
ent and  encouraged  Muhlenberg  to  accept  of  this  call. 

Having,  after  a  prayerful  consideration,  arrived  at  the  con- 
clusion that  he  should  enter  upon  a  field  of  labor  where  he 
certainly  was  not  an  intruder,  he  accepted  the  call.  Proceed- 
ing to  Leipsic,  the  University  of  Saxony,  under  the  sovereignty 
of  which  also  Grosshennersdorf  stood,  he  was  there  examined 
by  the  consistory  of  the  church  of  the  electoral  principality  in 
the  exegesis  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  the  dogmas  of  Christ, 
regeneration,  justification,  conversion ;  also  concerning  the  his- 
tory of  the  symbolical  books  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Having 
given  satisfactory  evidence  of  his  ability  and  attainments,  he 
2 


1 8  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

was  a  few  days  later  solemnly  ordained  in  the  presence  of  the 
whole  ministerium  of  the  city  of  Leipsic  by  the  Right  Rev. 
Superintendent  Deyling,  D.  D.,  and  in  consequence  thereof 
fully  entitled  to  enter  upon  the  pastoral  office  to  which  he 
had  been  called.*  We  see  in  this  happy  issue  a  convincing 
proof  that  Muhlenberg,  who  entered  upon  a  course  of  study 
in  classics  and  theology  somewhat  late  in  life,  and  under 
greater  difficulties  than  many  other  candidates  of  the  pastoral 
office,  had  made  a  very  conscientious  use  of  the  time  and  of 
the  means  allotted  to  him,  and  had  given  all  his  energies  to 
his  studies,  well  knowing  that  the  sacred  office  needs  no  less 
than  any  other  responsible  position  in  life  a  proper  preparation. 
He  never  trifled  with  a  duty.  To  this  his  whole  life  bears  ample 
testimony.  But,  viewing  the  prospects  now  before  him  and 
the  responsibilities  awaiting  him,  he  takes  occasion  humbly 
to  confess  that  at  that  moment  he  appeared  to  himself,  after 
four  years'  experience  in  a  true  spiritual  life,  as  a  mere  child, 
and  could  hardly  realize  the  fact  that  he  had  been  ordained 
a  minister  of  Christ  and  called  to  a  pastoral  charge.  There 
is  an  admonition  in  this  to  all  who  are  not  fully  conscious  of 
the  responsibilities  they  incur  in  entering  the  sacred  office. 

On  his  way  through  Halle  from  Leipsic,  Muhlenberg 
learned  that  soon  after  his  departure  from  that  place  the 
demand  for  three  missionaries  had  come,  and  that  the  appoint- 
ments had  already  been  made.  He  felt  convinced  that  it  was 
not  God's  will  that  he  should  serve  his  cause  in  East  India. 

Leaving  Halle,  he  directed  his  steps  to  Hanover,  the  prov- 
ince in  which  he  was  born,  paid  visits  to  a  number  of  friends 
whose  intercourse  spiritually  benefited  him,  and  returned 
through  Brandenburg  and  Saxony  to  Grosshennersdorf. 

This  town  was  and  still  is  in  various  respects  of  no  particular 
significance.  It  has  now  about  fifteen  hundred  inhabitants, 
and  no  great  commercial  or  industrial  establishments.  The  old 
aristocratic  mansion  is  the  only  building  of  any  architectural 
pretension.  In  Miihlenberg's  time  two  pastors  took  care  of 

*  The  certificate  of  ordination  still  exists,  and  is  in  possession  of  Rev.  F.  A. 
Muhlenberg,  D.  D.,  professor  in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  19 

the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  inhabitants  ;  now,  one  is  considered 
amply  sufficient  for  this  purpose.     Yet  there  were  interests 
there    which    claimed    the    entire    and    careful    attention    of 
Miihlenberg.      There  was  the  noble  family  of  the  baroness 
of  Gersdorf,   with  whom  social   and  official   duties  brought 
him  into  frequent  intercourse.      He  considered  it  a  peculiar 
favor  of  Providence  that  his  clerical  associate,  the  Rev.  Siisse, 
was  in  matters  of  religion  of  one  mind  with  himself,  and  was 
a  colleague  both  agreeable  and  by  his  solid  scholarship  val- 
uable in  the  intercourse  he  had  with  him.    An  Orphan-House, 
founded  by  the  baroness  and  her  mother,  who  had  died  before 
Miihlenberg's  arrival,  gave  him  ample  opportunity  each  day 
to  teach  and  to  assist  in  the  management  of  the  house,  since 
there  were  four  different  departments  in  it  which  he  had  to 
superintend.     The  first  one  was   a  higher  school,  in  which 
sons  of  impoverished  noblemen  were  instructed  in  the  classics 
and  other  higher  branches,  also  in  the  fundamentals  of  the 
Christian  religion,  to  prepare  them  for  future  study.      The 
distressing   condition  of  widows   of  noblemen  who    had  in 
turbulent  times  lost  the  means  of  educating  their  sons  prop- 
erly, and  were  in  those  parts  often  exposed  to  the  proselyting 
attempts  of  Papists,  had  given  occasion  for  the  establishment 
of  this  department,  in  which  three  teachers  gave  instruction. 
In  the  second  department  thirty-two  poor,  needy  boys,  chil- 
dren of  the  subjects   of  the  baroness,  were  furnished   with 
boarding  and  clothing  and   obtained  their  education,   their 
teachers  being  young  men  selected  from  the  more  advanced 
scholars  and  specially  prepared  for  this   office.     The   third 
department  contained  some  poor  orphan  girls ;  and  the  fourth 
-was  an  asylum  for  a  number  of  aged  widows,  some  of  them 
blind  and  helpless,  who  were  here  charitably  sustained  and 
received  spiritual  assistance  to  prepare  them  for  the  last  hour. 
The  whole  institution  was  under  wise  laws  and  regulations. 
The  baroness  spent  yearly  more  than  three  thousand  thaler 
(dollars)  of  her  income  for  this  benevolent  purpose ;  there  was 
no  income  from  any  other  source.     Miihle-nberg  found  ample 
opportunity  as  a  superintendent  to  show  his  talent  for  instruc- 


2O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

tion  and  discipline.  After  divers  changes  that  Orphan-House 
still  exists,  is  under  the  authority  of  the  government  of  Sax- 
ony, serves 'as  a  reformatory  school  for  neglected  and  unruly 
boys,  of  whom  there  are  about  one  hundred,  while  there  is 
room  for  one  hundred  more.  But  there  was  in  addition  to 
the  Orphan-House  another,  .smaller  institution,  in  which 
Protestants  who  suffered  persecution  on  this  account  in  Bo- 
hemia found  refuge,  received  instruction  in  the  Bohemian  lan- 
guage, and  were  spiritually  cared  for.  Miihlenberg  found  it 
his  duty  to  learn  enough  of  that  language  (Czech)  to  enable 
him  to  assist  in  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  The 
Bohemian  interest  had  in  former  years  been  of  much  more 
significance  at  Grosshennersdorf.  When  Baroness  Gersdorf  in 
1721  began  her  benevolent  labors  she  erected  the  Orphan- 
House,  also  invited  a  considerable  number  of  Bohemian 
Protestant  refugees  and  allowed  them  to  establish  themselves 
on  her  estate  in  a  colony  called  Schonbrunn.  In  1726  a  Bo- 
hemian congregation  was  organized,  and  Rev.  John  Liberda 
called  to  preside  over  it.  Difficulties  arose,  and  in  1732  a 
large  number  of  Bohemians  emigrated  to  Berlin,  where  King 
William  I.,  father  of  Frederick  the  Great,  moved  by  the  inter- 
cessions of  Rev.  Liberda,  built  for  their  use  the  well-known 
Bethlehem  Church,  which  was  dedicated  March  12,  1737. 
Miihlenberg  found,  consequently,  at  Grosshennersdorf  only 
a  remnant  of  the  former  Bohemian  congregation.  The  bar- 
oness herself,  on  account  of  her  liberality,  which  transcended 
her  income,  was  involved  in  difficulties,  and  sold  her  estate 
in  1740  to  Baron  Charles  G.  von  Burgsdorf.  Miihlenberg, 
whose  support  in  consequence  of  this  was  reduced  and  ren- 
dered doubtful,  received  in  the  same  year  an  invitation  to  pay 
a  visit  and  to  preach  at  Gorlitz,  where  a  pastoral  charge  was 
vacant.  But  in  obedience  to  the  entreaties  and  arguments 
of  the  baroness,  who  continued  to  reside  in  her  old  mansion 
until  her  death,  August  2,  1761,  he  paid  no  attention  to  the 
call,  continued  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  and  resolved  to 
pay  in  1741  a  visit  to  his  native  place,  with  a  view  to  receive 
a  part  of  his  paternal  inheritance,  and  thus  to  be  enabled  to 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  21 

continue  his  labors  at  Grosshennersdorf.     It  was  indeed  im- 
possible to  act  in  a  more  generous  way. 

It  was  in  the  month  of  July,  1741,  when  Miihlenberg  in- 
tended to  set  out  on  his  journey.  Just  at  that  time  Baron 
von  Gersdorf,  brother  of  the  baroness,  who  was  engaged  in 
diplomatic  services,  arrived  as  a  visitor.  He  made  Miihlcn- 
berg  his  companion  on  the  route  to  Leipsic.  From  here 
Miihlenberg  went  to  Koestritz  to  pay  his  respect  to  his 
former  patron,  Count  Reuss.  Taking  his  advice  and  fur- 
nished by  him  with  the  necessary  means,  he  proceeded  at 
once  to  Halle. 

During  Miihlenberg's  visit  to  Koestritz  a  certain  Baron  von 
Braim  had  been  staying  there,  who  had  heard  about  the  con- 
dition of  things  at  Grosshennersdorf,  and,  reaching  Halle 
before  Miihlenberg,  most  probably  gave  the  Rev.  Dr.  Francke  c 
some  information  concerning  Miihlenberg's  situation.  This  \ 
fully  explains  how  it  happened  that  when  Miihlenberg,  a  few 
days  afterward,  arrived  at  Halle,  Francke  at  supper,  to  which 
he  had  invited  him,  offered  him  "  a  call  to  the  dispersed  Lu- 
therans in  Pennsylvania,"  adding,  however,  "  to  make  a  trial 
of  a  few  years."  Without  much  deliberation  Miihlenberg 
answered  that  if  he  could  see  in  it  the  will  of  God  he  would 
go,  and  that  'he  felt  bound  to  go  wherever  Providence  called 
him.  This  happened  Sept.  6,  1741.  "f — 

Thus  a  moment  or  a  few  words  may  determine  the  career 
and  the  issues  of  a  whole  life.  Thus  the  decision  of  a 
moment  may  fix  the  fate  of  thousands.  And  certainly  this 
was  the  case  here. 

But  in  this  world,  alongside  of  the  most  momentous  events 
in  the  history  of  individuals  and  of  thousands,  the  smallest 
trifles  will  attach  themselves.  When  Miihlenberg  had,  with- 
out any  hesitancy,  following  the  first  impulse  of  his  heart, 
declared  his  resolution,  good  Mrs.  Henrietta  Francke  was  so 
elated  with  joy  that  she  at  once  presented  the  young  pastor 
with  a  comfortable  dressing-gown,  hoping  and  trusting  that 
now  some  help  had  arrived  for  the  suffering  brethren  of  the 
faith  in  Pennsylvania.  Possibly  we  are  right  in  assuming  that 


22  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

this  incident  goes  far  to  prove  that  the  destitute  Lutherans 
beyond  the  Atlantic,  and  the  painful  inability  up  to  that  time 
to  find  them  proper  help,  had  often  been  subjects  of  conversa- 
tion in  Dr.  Francke's  family. 

In  accordance  with  the  advice  of  Dr.  Francke,  Miihlenberg 
now  proposed  to  pay  a  visit  at  once  to  his  relatives  in  his 
native  place,  and  to  consult  with  them  about  his  affairs  and 
plans  for  the  future.  A  trifling  impediment,  want  of  room  for 
him  in  the  regular  stage-coach,  prevented  the  carrying  out  of 
this  purpose.  Meanwhile,  Baron  von  Gersdorf  had  arrived 
at  Halle,  on  his  return  once  more  to  Grosshennersdorf,  and 
he  now  invited  Muhlenberg  to  accompany  him.  On  Sept.  14 
they  arrived  safely  at  Grosshennersdorf. 

Dr.  Francke  having  informed  his  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Fr. 
M.  Ziegenhagen  of  London,  of  Miihlenberg's  willingness  to 
go  as  a  missionary  among  the  Lutherans  in  Pennsylvania,  he 
received  from  Ziegenhagen  a  full  approval  of  his  offer  of  the 
call  to  Muhlenberg,  and  the  conditions — viz.  that  he  should 
accept  the  call  for  three  years,  so  as  to  make  a  trial,  and  that 
he  should  have  liberty  to  return  after  that  period ;  that  his 
travelling  expenses  from  Upper  Lusatia  to  America  should  be 
paid,  and  also  those  for  his  return  in  case  he  should  demand 
them;  that  the  sums  necessary  for  these  and  a  sufficient  salary 
should  be  taken  from  the  charitable  gifts  collected  by  Ziegen- 
hagen ;  also,  that  Muhlenberg  should  receive  his  regular  call, 
with  these  conditions  annexed,  from  Ziegenhagen,  to  whom  the 
Pennsylvania  congregations  had  committed  the  matter.  All 
of  this  Francke,  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  weeks,  communicated 
to  Muhlenberg,  who  had  made  the  baroness  acquainted  with 
what  had  happened  at  Halle;  to  which  she  replied  that  "there 
certainly  was  an  extensive  uncultivated  field  in  America." 
When  she  learned  of  Dr.  Ziegenhagen's  consent,  being  then 
in  the  midst  of  her  financial  difficulties,  she  inquired  at  what 
time  the  ships  were  to  leave  Europe  and  when  Muhlenberg 
had  to  be  there.  This  Muhlenberg  reported  to  Francke.  A 
few  days  later  the  baroness  thought  he  had  been  too  hasty  in 
this  matter,  and  that  he  should  certainly  lay  his  case  first 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  23 

before  his  high  patrons,  the  Counts  Reuss  and  Henkel.  They 
answered  that  if  he  could  see  his  way  clear  to  leave  Gross- 
hennersdorf  they  could  very  well  employ  him  in  the  "  Vogt- 
land,"  where  their  dominions  were  situated.  Dr.  Francke,  on 
the  other  hand,  advised  him  he  should  come  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible. 

The  possessions  of  the  baroness  and  the  administration  of 
her  estates  had  meanwhile  passed  into  the  hands  of  Herr  von 
Burgsdorf.  A  number  of  members  of  the  Orphan-House  and 
a  part  of  the  congregation  made  application  to  him,  praying 
that  he  would  not  permit  Miihlenberg's  departure.  The  baron  * 
declared  to  him  that  he  wished  him  to  remain  in  his  present 
official  position — that  changes  going  on  in  the  outward  admin- 
istration of  his  official  duties  would  affect  him  only  so  far  as 
to  reduce  to  some  extent  his  labors.  It  appears  that  the  whole 
complication  of  circumstances  was  of  such  a  nature  as  to  give 
great  anxiety  to  Miihlenberg,  and  he  was  very  desirous  of 
clearly  recognizing  the  will  of  God.  He  wrote  to  Francke 
and  Ziegenhagen.  The  letter  to  Ziegenhagen  was  enclosed 
in  the  one  to  Francke,  who,  however,  informed  Miihlenberg 
that  he  did  not  despatch  it,  and  added  that  he  must  -at  once 
arrive  at  a  final  decision,  either  yea  or  nay.  Should  he  refuse 
the  call  to  Pennsylvania,  it  would  be  left  to  his  conscience, 
acting  as  accountable  to  God.  "  His  Excellency  the  count " 
soon  afterward  also  sent  a  message  to  the  effect  that  Miihlen- 
berg should  accept  the  call  to  America,  since  it  would  be 
easier  to  find  the  proper  person  for  the  vacancy  at  home  than 
for  the  mission-field  beyond  the  sea;  and  the  promise  was 
given  that  for  Miihlenberg's  vacant  position  with  divine  help 
a  suitable  incumbent  should  be  found.  -A  successor  was 
indeed  found  in  1744,  Rev.  Anton  Rhode,  who,  unfortunately, 
proved  such  a  troublesome  individual  that  he  was  finally  sus- 
pended. 

Before  bidding  farewell  to  Grosshennersdorf  we  have  to 
refer  to  a  circumstance  which  offers  to  us  perhaps  more  than 
a  mere  episodic  interest,  and  which  cannot  be  omitted  in  the 
annals  of  Miihlenberg's  life  and  times.  There  are  strong 


24  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

reasons  to  believe  that  during  his  pastorate  at  Grosshenners- 
dorf  he  entered  the  literary  arena,  and  that  this  was  in  his 
whole  career  the  only  case  of  this  kind.  The  facts  are  these. 
In  those  times  controversy  between  the  old  conservative 
ecclesiastical  party  and  the  Pietists  or  the  radicals  and  pro- 
gressivists  was  the  order  of  the  day.  There  were  among  the 
conservatives  undoubtedly  many  clergymen  of  very  little  spir- 
itual life,  who  in  a  perfunctory  manner  attended  to  their  official 
duties,  and  whose  hatred  against  the  Pietists,  who  were  en- 
deavoring to  arouse  more  religious  feeling  and  life,  and  with 
fervor  preached  repentance  and  Christ  crucified,  came  from 
carnal  motives.  But  there  were  among  the  opponents  of  Pie- 
tism also  men  of  a  godly  character  and  of  sound  practical 
principles,  who  saw  in  the  innovations  and  methods  of  Pietism 
much  that  to  them  portended  no  good  to  the  Church  and 
religion.  While  they  could  approve  of  the  efforts  of  Pietism 
in  the  direction  of  practical  godliness,  Christian  charity,  the 
suppression  of  vice,  the  alleviation  of  misery,  they  could  not 
close  their  eyes  to  certain  dangers  which  they  found  inherent 
in  Pietism.  It  laid  too  much  stress  upon  the  feelings  and 
doubtful  mental  conditions  of  individuals,  and  endangered 
and  put  into  the  background  the  solid  form  of  true  faith,  the 
creed  of  the  Church ;  it  had  occasioned  here  and  there  very 
objectionable  excitements  and  eccentricities ;  it  encouraged 
separation  within  the  Church,  and  often  a  very  objectionable 
censoriousness  against  the  ministers  on  the  part  of  the  hear- 
ers. Certainly,  these  were  serious  things,  and  men  of  the 
highest  conscientiousness  and  friends  of  true  godliness  might 
well  feel  alarmed  under  the  circumstances. 

One  of  the  prevailing  features  of  Pietism  was  that,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  ordinary  public  services,  its  lay  adherents  held 
private  conventicles  in  family  circles.  These  meetings  were 
often  conducted  by  clergymen  holding  the  same  views ;  lay- 
men also,  of  the  proper  character  and  talent,  expounded  pas- 
sages of  the  gospel  and  led  in  prayer.  We  can  understand 
that  meetings  of  such  a  character  may  have  been  felt  as  a 
necessity  in  congregations  presided  over  by  unspiritual  pas- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2$ 

tors,  whose  preaching  was  dry,  lifeless,  cold,  or  offensive  to 
believers.  We  would  not  maintain  that  under  such  unfortu- 
nate circumstances  godly  members  of  the  congregation  have 
no  right  to  meet  for  mutual  edification  in  private  houses,  pro- 
vided all  things  be  done  in  decency,  on  the  basis  of  the  true 
faith  and  sound  religion,  and  not  in  the  interest  of  party  spirit 
and  strife.  But  we  cannot  shut  our  eyes  to  the  dangers  of 
fomenting  a  foreign  spirit,  of  opening  the  gates  to  errorists,  and 
of  engendering  by  those  means  separation  and  spiritual  pride. 
Now,  it  appears  that  in  the  year  1740  the  Rev.  Balthasar 
Mentzer,  D.  D.,  general  superintendent  of  the  church  in  the 
duchy  of  Kalenberg,  court-preacher,  etc.,  etc.,  published  a 
book  wherein  he  exposes  in  a  quiet,  unobjectionable  manner 
these  dangers  connected  with  private  conventicles,  and  warns 
Christian  people  against  them.  We  cannot  doubt  that  he  ut- 
tered those  warnings  prompted  by  the  best  motives,  and  that 
he  was  sustained  in  his  views  by  an  extensive  pastoral  expe- 
rience. That  no  answer  should  appear  to  his  objections,  and 
no  attempt  should  be  made  to  refute  his  arguments,  could 
hardly  be  expected  in  those  times,  although  the  controversies 
between  orthodox  or  conservatives  and  the  Pietists  had  already 
lost  much  of  their  former  acrimony.  There  appeared  in  the 
year  1741  a  pamphlet  in  the  form  of  an  address  to  Dr.  B. 
Mentzer,  wherein  the  author  attempts  to  show  that  Mentzer's 
position  in  this  matter  was  not  supported  by  any  convincing 
proof;  that  Pietism  with  its  newly-introduced  agencies  and 
instrumentalities  was  called  forth  by  the  actual  and  deplorable 
condition  of  the  Church ;  and  that  private  conventicles  did 
not  deserve  condemnation.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  tone 
of  the  pamphlet  was  not  without  a  satirical  element  and  some- 
what irritating.  Dr.  Mentzer,  who  might  have  taken  up  his 
pen  again  to  defend  his  views,  was  by  death  prevented  from 
doing  so  ;  he  departed  this  life  Dec.  20,  1741.  The  pamphlet 
published  against  him  attracted  attention  in  literary  circles, 
and  in  various  theological  periodicals  of  those  years  reference 
is  made  to  it.  The  author  had  not  given  his  full  name,  but 
on  the  title-page  only  introduced  himself  as  D.  M.  Soon  the 


26  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

critics  read  this  "  Diaconus  Miihlenberg,"  and  in  various  pub- 
lications the  pamphlet  was  ascribed  to  the  young  pastor  at 
Grosshennersdorf,  who,  to  our  knowledge,  never  denied  his 
authorship.  Neither  does  it  appear  that  any  of  his  friends 
after  his  departure  from  Germany  maintained  that  that  pamph- 
let had  not  come  from  his  hand.  True  it  is  that  in  all  his  ex- 
tensive private  manuscripts  Miihlenberg  never  referred  to  that 
attempt  to  use  the  public  press.  If  it  was  his  first  effort  in 
polemics  of  such  a  character,  it  was  also  his  last  one.  He 
served  throughout  his  life  the  ecclesia  militans,  but  avoided 
the  public  battleground  of  theological  controversies.  To  us 
a  peculiar  interest  rests  in  this,  that  except  one  sermon 
printed  in  Philadelphia  many  years  later,  that  pamphlet  is 
the  only  publication  ever  ascribed  to  him  as  author.* 

After  having  under  considerable  emotion  delivered,  Dec.  9, 
1741,  his  farewell  sermon,  he  handed  over  to  the  proper  author- 
ities, in  good  order,  all  the  documents  and  accounts  entrusted 
to  him.  With  mutual  good  wishes  for  steadfastness  in  the  faith 
and  for  a  happy  meeting  in  the  land  beyond  the  grave,  and  with 
prayers,  he  paid  his  last  respects  at  the  mansion  of  the  baron- 
ess, and  departed  in  stormy  weather  from  Grosshennersdorf, 
Dec.  17,  1741. 

Travelling  westward  by  the  way  of  Bautzen,  Dresden,  Oschatz, 
Leipsic,  and  Altenburg,  he  came,  Dec.  23d,  to  Polnitz,  where 
Count  Henkel  entertained  the  worn-out  traveller  in  a  most 
hospitable  manner,  refreshing  him  in  body  and  soul,  and  on 
Jan.  2,  1742,  had  him  conveyed  in  a  vehicle  to  Count  Reuss 
at  Koestritz,  who  received  him  no  less  kindly.  He  had  at 
both  places  to  lead  in  worship  in  the  residences  of  the  counts, 
and  to  preach.  Both  his  noble  friends  at  that  time  already  had 
advanced  into  the  sixties,  and  the  farewell  was  keenly  felt  by 
Miihlenberg,  there  being  little  prospect  that  he  would  see  them 
again  on  earth.  Jan.  8th,  Count  Reuss  had  his  guest  conveyed 
to  Halle,  Miihlenberg  on  the  road  paying  a  visit  to  the  Orphan- 
House  at  Langendorf. 

*  The  preface  to  the  German  hymnbook  edited  1786  by  the  Pennsylvania  Min- 
isterium  is  also  from  Miihlenberg's  hand. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2J 

It  was  a  wintry  day,  so  cold  that  Miihlenberg's  hands  and 
feet  were  frost-bitten,  when,  in  the  evening  of  Jan.  9,  he 
arrived  at  Halle  and  as  a  guest  entered  the  house  of  Mrs.  Dr. 
Goetz.  Afterward  Francke  took  him  to  his  house,  where  he 
received  all  the  attention  his  case  needed  and  hospitality  could 
offer.  Efforts  were  made  to  find  an  associate  for  Muhlenberg 
to  accompany  him  as  a  colaborer  to  Pennsylvania,  but  no  suit- 
able one  was  found. 

We  have  arrived  at  the  end  of.  what  we  may  call  the  pre- 
paratory period  of  H.  M.  Miihlenberg's  life.  He  was  led  on 
thus  far  by  a  kind  Providence.  The  years  of  his  youth  had 
not  been  without  hardship  and  sad  experiences.  Temptations, 
found  everywhere,  and  especially  in  the  course  of  young  stu- 
dents, had  assailed  him.  He  escaped  them  unscathed.  He 
faithfully  used  the  opportunities  and  means  offered  to  him  to 
finish  his  education.  He  experienced  in  the  most  dangerous 
years  of  man's  life  the  powerful  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  was  awakened  to  a  spiritual  life.  The  resolution  to  walk 
before  God  was  firmly  taken  and  sincerely  kept.  Friends  and 
patrons  were  found  who  confirmed  him  in  this  resolution  and 
its  execution.  He  had  endeared  himself  to  godly  people  of 
lowly  and  high  standing.  Already  he  had  entered  upon  the 
field  of  action,  had  tried  his  strength,  and  gathered  some 
experience.  He  had  matured  for  greater  tasks,  for  the  pecu- 
liar and  comprehensive  mission  of  his  life.  Heretofore  friends 
and  advisers  stood  near  enough  for  him  to  receive  from  them 
at  any  time  encouragement  and  counsel.  And  their  prayers 
accompanied  him  into  the  distant  land  beyond  the  ocean  and 
into  an  uncertain  future.  Departing  from  them,  he  was,  as 
the  saying  is,  "  thrown  upon  his  own  resources,"  and  had 
under  unusual  and  trying  circumstances  to  evolve  and  to 
prove  the  Christian  manhood  that  was  in  him. 


28  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 


CHAPTER   III. 
1742. 

Departure  from  Halle. — Miihlenberg  arrives  at  Eimbeck  by  the  way  of  Halber- 
stadt,  Wernigerode,  Gottingen. — Unpleasant  experiences  there  through  cler- 
ical, censoriousness. — Passing  through  Hanover,  Osnabriick,  Deventer,  and 
Norden  to  Amsterdam,  through  Leyden,  Rotterdam,  Briel,  to  Helvoetsluys, 
he  sets  sail  for  England. — Acquaintance  made  on  board  the  ship. — Arrival  at 
London. — -Intercourse  with  Ziegenhagen,  John  Dav.  Michaelis.  H.  A.  Butjen- 
der,  and  others. — Miihlenberg  receives  the  formal  call  to  the  Evangelical 
Lutheran  congregations  of  Philadelphia,  New  Providence,  and  New  Hanover 
in  Pennsylvania. — He  is  requested  to  visit  the  Salzburger  congregation  at 
Ebenezer,  Ga. — Sets  sail  for  the  New  World. 

HAVING  departed,  Feb.  4,  1742,  from  Halle,  where  in 
those  times  the  way  of  extending  God's  kingdom  on 
earth  was  providentially  decided  for  Miihlenberg  and  for 
many  other  missionaries  of  the  gospel  and  the  cause  of 
Christ,  the  candidate  for  spiritual  services  among  the  Luther- 
ans in  Pennsylvania  arrived  the  following  evening  at  Halber- 
stadt,  and  at  a  late  hour  of  the  day  paid  his  respects  to  some 
members  of  the  family  of  the  Counts  Wernigerode,  then 
sojourning  there,  who  stood  in  intimate  relation  with  Dr. 
Francke  and  other  godly  men  at  Halle,  and  to  whom,  as 
well  as  to  other  sympathizing  friends  who  were  present,  he 
was  quite  welcome.  That  in  such  a  circle  conversation  would 
turn  to  questions  of  personal  religious  experience  and  the 
interests  of  Christ's  cause  on  earth  might  be  expected.  It 
belonged  indeed  to  the  characteristics  of  Pietism.  The  count 
also,  in  addition  to  good  advice,  gave  Miihlenberg  a  number 
of  tracts  referring  to  the  life  of  his  deceased  wife,  which  he 
intended  partly  for  readers  in  America,  partly  for  the  mission- 
aries in  East  India ;  hence  some  were  to  be  left  in  London, 
thence  to  be  transmitted  to  their  destination. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2$ 

On  Feb.  6th,  Miihlenberg  arrived  at  Wernigerode,  the  old, 
venerable  residence  of  the  counts  of  the  same  name,  and  there, 
as  on  a  former  visit,  he  was  hospitably  entertained  by  his 
friend,  Pastor  Boetticher.  On  the  following  day  he  was 
invited  to  hold  religious  services  at  the  princely  residence 
and  to  be  present  at  a  conference  meeting  attended  by  a  con- 
siderable number  of  pastors  of  that  district.  The  Counts 
Wernigerode  exercised  sovereign  authority  in  their  domin- 
ions, like  many  other  high-standing  and  wealthy  noble  fam- 
ilies of  Germany.  They  consequently  had  also  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction.  This  power  they  used  in  favor  of  the  mission- 
aries from  Halle.  A  number  of  them,  and  some  sent  to 
Pennsylvania,  before  departing  for  their  destination  were 
ordained  by  the  church  dignitaries  of  Wernigerode.  We 
know  that  Miihlenberg  was  ordained  at  Leipsic. 

On  Feb.  8th  he  preached  in  the  pulpit  of  his  friend  Boet- 
ticher the  first  sermon  of  the  Lent  season  of  that  year ;  he 
also  held  services  in  the  neighboring  Ilsenburg,  and  here  also 
met  a  number  of  pastors  in  sympathy  with  Halle  and  Pietism. 
On  the  following  day,  in  a  terrible  storm,  he  went  up  again 
to  the  mansion  of  the  counts,  took  farewell  of  the  head  of 
the  noble  house,  and  arrived,  after  much  hardship,  at  Gottin- 
gen,  where  he  was  hospitably  entertained  by  his  old  patron 
and  friend,  Prof.  Dr.  Oporin,  who  rejoiced  after  four  years  of 
separation  to  have  his  former  pupil  again  under  his  roof.  That 
the  chanty  school  founded  by  the  co-operation  of  Miihlenberg 
was  on  this  occasion  an  object  of  his  attention  hardly  needs  a 
remark.  He  paid  his  respects  to  some  of  his  former  teachers 
and  a  number  of  brethren  in  the  faith,  and  Feb.  i/th  continued 
his  journey  and  arrived  at  his  native  place,  Eimbeck. 

It  was  a  great  satisfaction  to  him  once  more  to  see  his  aged 
mother.  But  to  her  and  his  brothers  and  sisters  and  other 
relatives  the  idea  of  his  going  to  America  was  most  distress- 
ing. His  mother  said  she  would  rather  follow  him  to  his 
grave  than  learn  that  the  Indians  had  torn  him  to  pieces.  Of 
course  we  in  our  times  consider  the  crossing  of  the  Atlantic 
simply  as  an  excursion  for  pleasure ;  in  those  times  the  case 


3O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

was  a  totally  different  one,  fraught  with  innumerable  diffi- 
culties and  dangers.  Not  only  a  very  protracted  and  stormy 
voyage,  but  miserable  and  scanty  provisions,  loathsome  dis- 
eases, attacks  of  pirates,  and  other  ills  stared  the  adventurous 
traveller  in  the  face.  These  things,  however,  could  not  dis- 
courage Miihlenberg. 

His  visit  to  Eimbeck  was  unexpectedly  connected  with 
unpleasant  experiences.  It  seems  that  his  hearty  consent  to 
the  views  and  principles  pronounced  at  Halle  was  well  known 
to  the  clerical  dignitaries  of  his  native  town.  There  were  at 
least  some  of  them  who  on  this  account  were  prejudiced 
against  him  and  did  not  wish  him  to  preach  in  their  pulpits,  and 
therein  acted  against  the  request  of  a  number  of  the  citizens. 
Many  of  these  who  in  their  religious  views  and  feelings  sided 
with  him  visited  him  at  his  private  residence.  It  was  stated 
that  he  held  with  them  private  religious  services.  On  Sun- 
day, Feb.  25th,  however,  he  preached,  at  the  request  of  one  of 
the  pastors  of  the  town,  Rev.  Benckhard,  senior  of  the  clergy, 
in  one  of  the  churches  at  Eimbeck.  The  building,  as  may  be 
expected,  was  crowded.  Miihlenberg  took  as  his  text  the 
Gospel  of  the  day,  third  Sunday  in  Lent,  Luke  xi.  14-28,  and 
spoke  on  "  the  diverse  effects  produced  on  those  present  by 
the  miracle  of  Christ."  In  the  evening  of  that  day  a  number 
of  friends  came  to  him,  with  whom  he  entered  into  conver- 
sation on  religious  subjects.  There  were  present  also  some 
strangers.  On  the  following  morning  the  burgqmaster  sent 
him  command  "  to  desist  from  holding  Pietistic  conventicles, 
which  the  law  of  the  country  prohibited."  At  a  subsequent 
visit  to  the  house  of  the  burgomaster  he  was  informed  that 
two  of  the  clergy  of  the  town — one  of  them  Herr  Superin- 
tendent John  George  Hunt — were  his  accusers.  These  gen- 
tlemen were  not  satisfied  with  first  steps,  but  sent  reports  to 
the  highest  ecclesiastical  authorities  at  Hanover :  they  also 
requested  the  civil  and  the  clerical  authorities  of  a  neighbor- 
ing village,  where  Miihlenberg  was  expected  to  preach,  to 
prevent  him  from  holding  conventicles.  This  caused  Miihl- 
enberg to  return  from  that  village  without  having  accom- 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHIOR  MUHLENBER  G.  3 1 

plished  his  object.  He  took  occasion  to  admonish  those 
who  sympathized  with  him  not  to  entertain  any  schismatic 
thoughts  or  devices. 

On  March  I2th  he  was  summoned  before  the  burgomaster 
of  Eimbeck,  who  read  to  him  a  rescript  sent  by  the  high 
authorities  of  Hanover  demanding  that  "  the  burgomaster  and 
the  superintendent  should  unitedly,  under  the  menace  of  im- 
prisonment, command  Muhlenberg  to  desist  from  holding  con- 
venticles." Miihlenberg's  question,  whether  such  a  procedure 
was  not  suggestive  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  the  burgomas- 
ter answered  with  a  smile,  and  dismissed  him  kindly.  He 
proceeded  straightway  to  the  Right  Rev.  Superintendent,  to 
whom  he  presented  the  certificate  of  his  ordination  at  Leipsic 
and  his  testimonials  from  Gottingen.  The  Superintendent 
regretted  that  Muhlenberg  had  not  visited  him  before,  ex- 
cused himself  by  saying  that  two  of  the  pastors  of  the  town 
had  compelled  him  to  bring  the  charges,  embraced  the  "  mis- 
erable delinquent,"  and  dismissed  him  with  his  blessing. 

Having  taken  farewell  of  his  relatives  and  friends,  Muhlen- 
berg departed  on  March  i/th  to  Hanover,  where  Frau  von 
Hattorf  hospitably  entertained  him  and  made  the  necessary 
arrangements  for  him  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  members  of 
the  consistory,  composed  of  the  highest  ecclesiastical  digni- 
taries of  the  electoral  dominion.  He  soon  learned  that  it  had 
been  reported  from  Eimbeck  that  "  an  individual  had  appeared 
there  who  pretended  to  be  a  preacher  from  Saxony,  but  that 
he  was  a  mere  vagabond  and  a  heretic,  who  had  recently  re- 
turned from  Pennsylvania,  was  holding  Pietistic  conventicles 
at  Eimbeck,  and  causing  dissatisfaction  with  the  existing 
laws."  These  calumnies  and  inventions  Muhlenberg  could 
refute  without  any  difficulty.  He  did  not  need  the  advice 
which  the  head  of  the  consistory,  Dr.  Tappe,  gave  him  not 
t'o  take  revenge  on  his  accusers,  since  all  the  clergy  of  the 
Hanoverian  dominion  might  have  to  suffer  in  public  esti- 
mation. 

Here  also  he  met  with  a  number  of  friends  among  the 
clergy  and  laity  who  shared  in  his  religious  views  and  feel- 


32  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

ings.  With  two  of  them  he  went,  on  March  24th,  the  day 
before  Easter,  to  Rev.  Winkler,  pastor  at  Peina,  for  whom 
he  entertained  very  affectionate  regard ;  paid  visits  to  two 
other  pastors  in  the  neighborhood ;  preached  on  Monday  after 
Easter  at  Peina,  and  returned  on  March  2/th  to  Hanover.  Here 
he  was  admitted  to  the  presence  of  Frau  von  Miinchhausen, 
wife  of  the  high  dignitary  who  had  kindly  assisted  him  as  a 
student  at  Gottingen.  This  noble  Christian  lady  continued 
her  good-will  toward  him  for  many  years  after  he  had  begun 
his  missionary  work  in  Pennsylvania.  The  Rev.  Flugge,  one 
of  the  pastors  of  Hanover  city,  encouraged  by  Dr.  Tappe, 
president  of  the  consistory,  had  invited  Miihlenberg  to  preach 
on  April  1st  in  his  parish  church.  Another  member  of  the 
same  high  ecclesiastical  board,  a  jurist,  remonstrated  with 
Flugge,  but  was  invited  by  him  to  come  and  to  hear  for  him- 
self, as  he  could  then  form  a  better  judgment ;  which  advice 
he  took.  After  listening  to  the  sermon  he  said  that  "  it  had 
all  been  orthodox,  in  agreement  with  the  Formula  of  Con- 
cord." Thinking,  however,  that  the  designs  of  the  adherents 
of  the  so-called  orthodox,  anti-Pietistic  party  might  lead  to 
further  unpleasant  results,  Miihlenberg  sent  his  official  cer- 
tificates and  testimonials  to  the  privy  council  of  the  Hanover- 
ian government.  They  were  sent  back  to  him  after  a  few 
days.  Researches  recently  made  in  the  ecclesiastical  archives 
of  the  now  Prussian  province  of  Hanover  have  brought  to 
light  no  trace  of  any  transaction  on  record  concerning  Miihl- 
enberg. 

Departing  from  Hanover  April  5th,  and  proceeding  with 
the  stage  to  Osnabriick,  where  he  arrived  April  /th,  Miihlen- 
berg, as  he  tells  us,  keenly  felt  the  separation  from  his  native 
country,  from  his  relatives  and  many  friends,  with  whom  he 
was  connected  by  the  tenderest  ties.  But  he  says  that  divine 
Providence,  which  benevolently  extends  his  care  even  to  the 
smallest  and  most  insignificant  creatures,  protected  him  in  his 
long  journey  in  the  "most  fatherly  manner." 

His  first  companions  in  the  stage  were  two  lawyers,  who 
asserted  that  they  knew  Miihlenberg  when  students  at  Gottin- 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  33 

gen.  During  this  conversation  allusion  was  made  to  Pietism, 
and  one  of  the  two  finding  fault  with  the  progress  of  Pietism 
in  Hanover,  Miihlenberg  asked  him  to  define  Pietism.  His 
answer  proved  sufficiently  that  he  did  not  know  what  he  was 
talking  about,  but  it  helped,  as  Miihlenberg  says,  to  render 
the  time  less  tedious  to  the  travellers.  Arriving  at  Osnabriick, 
they  were  at  once  summoned  before  the  French  general,  who 
with  some  thousand  soldiers  had  taken  quarters  in  the  town. 
Query :  What  had  brought  the  French  to  German  soil  ? 
When  the  emperor  Charles  VI.  died  in  1740  he  left  no  son  as 
heir  to  the  throne,  but  in  consequence  of  the  ratification  by 
some  of  the  powers  of  the  recently-settled  principle  that  the 
Austrian  monarchy  should  continue  undivided,  and  that,  in  case 
of  no  legitimate  male  heir,  the  eldest  daughter  should  ascend 
the  throne,  Maria  Theresa,  wife  of  the  grandduke  Francis 
Stephan  of  Tuscany,  took  the  Austrian  sceptre.  '  But  she  had 
to  defend  her  claim  against  mighty  foes.  Frederick  the  Great 
at  once  marched  (Dec.  17,  1740)  into  Silesia,  parts  of  which 
he  claimed  as  belonging  to  his  estates.  In  consequence  of 
his  decisive  victories  over  the  Austrian  army,  all  Silesia  was 
ceded  to  him  at  the  Peace  of  Breslau,  1742,  he  on  his  part 
acknowledging  Maria  Theresa  as  the  lawful  regent  of  Austria. 
But  with  the  electoral  prince  of  Bavaria,  Charles  Albrecht, 
who  claimed  to  be  the  legitimate  heir  of  the  Austrian  throne, 
the  French  formed  in  1741  a  coalition  against  Maria  Theresa, 
and  two  French  armies  marched  into  Germany — one  in  the 
south,  the  other  against  Hanover,  which  with  England  and 
Hessia  sided  with  Austria.  The  French  suffered  total  defeat 
(1743)  at  Dettingen,  and  finally,  after  various  changes  of 
fortune  of  the  several  armies  and  protracted  diplomatic  trans- 
actions, Maria  Theresa  was  acknowledged  empress  of  Austria 
in  the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  1748,  her  husband  having 
already,  in  1742,  been  elected  at  Frankfurt  emperor  of  Ger- 
many, at  that  time  rather  an  empty  title.  These  circumstances 
fully  explain  why  Miihlenberg  met  a  French  army  at  Osna- 
bruck, and  a  general  who  closely  examined  the  travellers  as 
to  their  political  connections.  Miihlenberg,  declaring  him- 


34  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

self  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  was  at  once  set  free.  He  had 
time  enough  to  glance  in  the  town-hall  at  the  portraits  of  the 
ambassadors  who,  after  most  protracted  discussion  as  to  their 
respective  privileges  according  to  diplomatic  etiquette,  had 
finally,  in  1648,  brought  peace  to  unfortunate  Germany  and 
an  end  to  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  He  also  observed,  in  going 
through  the  streets,  how  the  French  soldiers  in  the  exube- 
rance of  their  war-spirit,  were  dancing  and  leaping  in  torn 
pantaloons  like  wagtails,  and  how  gladly  the  citizens  would 
have  seen  the  departure  of  these  unclean  birds. 

Departing  at  noon  with  a  single  companion  in  the  stage, 
one  of  the  two  lawyers  of  Hanover  having  left  him  at  Deven- 
ter,  Miihlenberg  considered  it  a  special  providence  that,  while 
yet  in  Westphalia  near  Bentheim,  a  merchant  from  Holland, 
bound  for  Amsterdam,  joined  his  company.  This  gentleman 
took  the  pains  to  give  him  his  first  lessons  in  the  Dutch  lan- 
guage, of  which  Miihlenberg  had  ample  occasion  to  make 
use  at  a  much  later  time ;  he  also  advised  him  to  speak  his 
good  German  with  slow  pronunciation,  so  that  the  Hollanders 
would  readily  understand  him.  They  found  that  in  the  towns 
of  Holland  hardly  anything  was  to  be  had  gratuitously,  save 
the  chimes  and  their  sentimental  melodies. 

Having  reached  the  town  of  Norden,  April  loth,  they  went 
on  board  of  a  boat  pulled  by  horses  (the  first  time  Miihlen- 
berg travelled  by  water),  and  arrived  at  Amsterdam,  where 
his  companion,  performing  his  last  act  of  kindness,  guided 
him  to  Messrs.  Deutz  and  Sons,  to  whom  he  handed  the  rec- 
ommendations given  by  his  illustrious  patrons  at  Hanover. 
They  treated  him  with  all  politeness  after  the  manner  of  the 
country,  procured  him  comfortable  lodgings,  and  gave  him  rec- 
ommendations to  a  merchant  of  high  standing  at  Rotterdam, 
"Mr.  Hering  of  the  Loewenhoven  by  de  Swane-Staeg."  The 
loth  of  April  he  spent  in  visiting  some  of  the  perishable  curi- 
osities of  this  world  of  which  the  wealthy  city  boasts.  He  was 
more  benefited  by  the  first  properly-prepared  meal  and  the  first 
undisturbed  rest  in  a  comfortable  bed  after  five  nights  and  days' 
travelling  in  a  stage-coach.  April  nth  he  proceeded  through 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  35 

Leyden  to  Rotterdam,  where  Mr.  Hering  received  him  kindly, 
had  him  properly  lodged,  and  took  the  trouble  to  show  him 
the  sights  of  the  city.  Arriving  April  loth  at  Briel,  by  the 
advice  of  a  well-educated  Hollander  he  took  lodgings  in  an 
inn  kept  by  an  Englishman.  Here  he  had  occasion  to  observe 
that  the  tradesmen  in  their  conversation  spoke  the  English  in 
such  an  abbreviated,  hurried,  and  lisping  way  that  he  could 
not  understand  a  word,  though  he  had  begun  the  study  of 
that  language  at  Gottingen,  and  even  on  some  festive  occa- 
sion had  delivered  at  Grosshennersdorf  an  oration  in  English ; 
which,  however,  not  a  soul  understood  save  the  local  physi- 
cian, who  had  also  acquired  all  his  English  at  Gottingen.  He 
tells  us  the  good  people  at  Briel  thought  he  was  rather  deaf, 
and  therefore  screamed  into  his  ears,  thereby  "  making  con- 
fusion worse  confounded."  He  thought  that  if  he  had  been 
a  Frenchman  he  might  have  helped  himself  more  readily  by 
gesticulations,  but,  says  he,  "  for  such  manoeuvres  the  Low 
Germans  (Platt-Deutsche)  and  Hollanders  are  too  stiff,  and  the 
common  English  people  don't  like  the  French."  His  English 
host,  however,  proved  very  kind  and  compassionate  to  the 
German  stranger. 

April  1 4th  the  stage-coach  took  him  to  Helvoetsluys  ;  there 
he  was  booked  in  the  regular  packet-boat  for  England.  Among 
the  passengers  was  an  Hungarian  officer  of  the  court  at  Vienna, 
who  was  sent  on  a  special  mission  to  England,  spoke  also  the 
Latin,  French,  and  to  some  extent  the  English  language,  and 
took  a  kind  interest  in  Miihlenberg.  When  Miihlenberg,  in 
answer  to  his  inquiry,  had  modestly  informed  him  in  Latin 
that  he  was  a  minister  of  the  gospel  on  his  way  .for  America 
and  upon  his  first  sea-voyage,  he  looked  after  him  in  a  fatherly 
manner.  As  soon  as  they  had  left  port  a  contrary  wind,  in- 
creasing in  vehemence,  struck  the  ship.  Sea-sickness  over- 
came the  passengers.  Muhlenberg  says  that  he  was  pros- 
trated as  by  palsy.  The  Hungarian  gentleman  formed  the 
only  exception,  and,  though  two  servants  were  at  his  com- 
mand, he  was  for  two  hours  at  the  bed  of  his  sick  ward  and 
nursed  him.  The  stormy  weather  continued  until,  on  the 


36  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

evening  of  April  i6th,  they  cast  anchor  at  Harwich,  the  first 
town  of  England  which  they  reached.  Not  without  consider- 
able trouble,  though  assisted  by  his  Hungarian  friend,  Muhl- 
enberg landed  his  baggage.  That  gentleman  managed  to  get 
a  private  room  for  himself  and  his  ward  for  a  short  time,  and 
asked  him  to  pray  for  him,  which  Miihlenberg  did  not  fail  to 
do,  interceding  for  him  in  a  short  prayer  before  the  throne 
of  grace.  The  gentleman  was  a  Roman  Catholic,  but  in  his 
way  expressed  himself  as  a  Christian.  Before  leaving  he 
recommended  Miihlenberg  to  the  particular  care  of  the  stage- 
driver  and  took  an  affectionate  farewell  of  his  protege,  who  had 
cause  to  thank  God  for  having  an  eye  of  mercy  even  for  the 
"  least  of  the  children  of  men,"  and  to  remember  the  guardian 
angel  of  Tobit. 

Leaving  Harwich  in  the  afternoon  of  April  i6th,  he  arrived 
at  Colchester  the  same  evening,  made  the  best  use  he  could 
of  his  stock  of  English,  and  after  various  unpleasant  experi- 
ences with  a  drunken  cab-driver  through  the  endless  streets 
of  the  city  of  London,  he  finally,  on  the  evening  of  April  17, 
was  safely  brought  to  the  house  of  Rev.  Frederick  Michael 
Ziegenhagen,  D.  D.,  court-preacher  at  the  German  St.  James 
Chapel,  who  resided  in  the  district  of  Kensington.  Here  he 
was  first  greeted  by  a  young  scholarly  German  theologian, 
John  David  Michaelis,  then  a  guest  of  Ziegenhagen,  to  whom 
he  at  once  introduced  the  stranger.  Ziegenhagen  welcomed 
Muhlenberg  with  thanks  and  praises  to  God.  On  the  follow- 
ing day  Muhlenberg  moved  to  the  lodgings  which  had  already 
been  taken  for  him  in  the  vicinity,  but  he  was  kindly  invited 
to  be  a  daily  guest  at  the  table  of  Ziegenhagen. 

We  have  in  Miihlenberg's  own  hand  a  detailed  account  of 
his  life  and  the  experiences  of  every  day  during  his  pro- 
tracted stay  at  London.  There  is  no  need  to  enter  upon  all 
these  minutiae.  Muhlenberg  does  not  refer  to  the  impressions 
made  upon  him  by  the  buildings,  bridges,  galleries  of  paintings, 
monuments,  and  other  curiosities.  But  he  speaks  repeatedly 
of  the  benefits  he  derived  from  his  intercourse  with  his 
fatherly  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Ziegenhagen,  who  was  a  devout 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  37 

Christian,  a  friend  to  the  missionaries,  a  practical  interpreter 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  by  his  position  a  man  of  an  unusually 
wide  range  of  pastoral  experience,  and  who  enjoyed  the  high 
esteem  of  persons  of  high  social  standing.  The  German 
royal  chapel,  called  St.  James,  was  established  in  London 
through  Prince  George  of  Denmark,  husband  of  Queen  Anne, 
daughter  of  James  II, r  and  successor  of  William  of  Orange. 
The  first  incumbent  of  the  charge  had  been  Rev.  Anton 
William  Boehme,  who  used  his  position  and  influence  to 
ameliorate  the  pitiable  condition  of  the  emigrants  from  the 
Palatinate,  of  whom  about  ten  thousand  were  in  1709 
encamped  near  London.  Some  thousands  of  them  were 
settled  in  June,  1710,  by  the  English  government  on  the 
shores  of  the  Hudson.  After  Boehme's  death  Ziegenhagen 
was  appointed  in  1722,  through  the  influence  of  A.  H. 
Francke  of  Halle,  his  successor,  and  remained  in  the  office 
until,  Jan.  24,  1776,  he  entered  into  his  rest.  He  never  mar- 
ried, and  left  his  worldly  possessions  to  the  missions  of  East 
India  and  America.  Hymns  of  his  composition  were  sung 
in  Lutheran  congregations  in  the  New  World,  and  catechu- 
mens memorized  an  epitome  of  his  catechism  in  rhymes  of 
his  making.  It  hardly  need  be  told  that  he  was  in  fullest 
sympathy  with  the  Halle  Pietism.  This  makes  it  perfectly 
plain  that  Muhlenberg  could  unreservedly  enter  into  his 
feelings  and  views,  and  that  he  approached  this  witness  for 
gospel  truth  in  an  elevated  position  with  much  reverence. 

The  novelty  of  sojourning  at  London  amid  the  turbulent 
waves  of  its  social  life  and  frivolous  gayety  might  have  exer- 
cised a  distracting  influence  upon  the  mind  of  a  man  who  had 
led  a  quiet  pastoral  existence  in  one  of  the  most  remote  cor- 
ners of  Germany.  It  appears  that  Muhlenberg  was  in  no  way 
attracted  or  influenced  by  it,  but  rejoiced  in  his  intercourse 
with  Ziegenhagen  and  other  men  who  served  the  thousands 
of  Germans  living  in  that  metropolis  of  the  world's  com- 
merce and  wealth  in  the  pastoral  office,  or  awakened  his 
interest  by  their  erudition  in  theology  and  cognate  branches 
of  learning.  In  this  respect  his  acquaintance  with  the  learned 


38  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Michaelis,  whom  as  a  teacher  he  had  known  in  Germany,  was 
of  much  advantage  to  him.  This  young  scholar  was  at  that 
time  travelling  to  perfect  his  general  education  and  to  make 
use  of  the  literary  treasures  of  different  countries.  In  this 
respect  the  great  libraries  and  antiquarian  collections  of  Lon- 
don and  of  other  celebrated  seats  of  learning  and  literature 
in  England  were  things  of  great  interest  to  him.  Michaelis, 
who  was  born  in  1717  at  Halle,  and  had  received  instruction 
in  classics  in  the  higher  branches  of  the  schools  connected 
with  the  Orphan-House,  after  his  return  from  England 
began  his  career  as  a  public  teacher  at  the  University  of 
Gottingen  in  1745,  and  was  appointed  in  1756  professor  of 
Oriental  languages  and  literature  in  that  seat  of  learning. 
He  lectured,  however,  also  .on  a  general  variety  of  topics 
of  exegetical  and  systematic  theology,  published  books  con- 
taining most  valuable  information  on  antiquities  and  other 
subjects  pertaining  to  the  interpretation  of  the  Bible,  edited 
essays  on  the  study  of  Hebrew,  Arabic,  and  Syriac,  and  rose 
to  highest  eminence  as  a  linguist  and  theologian.  When 
meeting  Miihlenberg  at  London  in  1742  he  had  not  yet 
adopted  those  views  of  the  Supranaturalistic  School,  as  it  is 
called  in  Germany,  which,  while  professing  to  oppose  Ration- 
alism in  principle,  makes,  nevertheless,  so  many  concessions 
to  it  that  the  orthodox  faith  has  reason  to  be  afraid  of  such 
friends  no  less  than  of  its  pronounced  opponents.  But  this 
is  the  position  Michaelis  held  in  later  years.  He  lost  much 
of  what  he  had  imbibed  in  his  youth  at  Halle,  and  the  fun- 
damental ideas  of  the  Bible  lost  under  his  treatment  in  later 
years  much  of  their  substantiality.  The*  missionary  whom 
he  met  at  the  quiet  house  of  Ziegenhagen  never  rose,  it  is  true, 
to  high  renown  in  the  world  of  letters,  but,  holding  fast  to  the 
old  landmarks,  he  laid  the  foundation  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
in  the  New  World,  and  thereby  raised  for  himself  a  more 
noble  monument,  lasting  through  ages. 

It  afforded  pleasure  to  Muhlenberg  to  become  acquainted 
with  other  men  engaged  either  in  serving  German  Lutheran 
congregations  in  the  large  city,  like  the  Rev.  H.  A.  Butjentfer, 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  39 

pastor  from  1732  of  the  German  Evangelical  Lutheran  St. 
Mary's  Church  in  the  district  of  Savoy  in  London,  or  being 
engaged  in  the  cause  of  Christ's  kingdom  in  other  relations. 
Ziegenhagen  took  his  friend  also  to  the  house  where  the 
Society  de  Promovenda  Cognitione  Christi,  with  which  the 
"Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts" 
was  united  since  1701,  met.  Miihlenberg  also  found  occasion 
to  preach  and  to  assist  in  the  administration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  It  seems  that  in  view  of  the  mission  of  his  life  he 
derived  the  greatest  benefit  for  himself  from  his  daily  inter- 
course with  Ziegenhagen,  whose  extensive  pastoral  experience 
and  penetration  in  the  analysis  and  practical  application  of 
Bible  texts  proved  to  him  of  much  advantage.  With  humble 
modesty  he  sat  many  a  blessed  hour  at  the  feet  of  this  godly 
teacher,  and  found  himself  again  and  again  instructed,  encour- 
aged, and  spiritually  benefited. 

Of  course  London  could  only  be  a  transient  station  for 
Miihlenberg,  whose  destination  was  the  far  West  beyond  the 
Atlantic.  But  London  served  him  in  various  ways  to  prepare 
him  better  for  his  future  work. 

Arrangements  were  made  to  procure  him  a  passage  in  a 
vessel  intended  to  proceed  to  sea  soon  after  Whitsunday.  On 
May  24th,  Ziegenhagen  handed  to  him  the  formal  official  call 
to  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  congregations  of  Philadelphia, 
New  Providence,  and  New  Hanover  in  Pennsylvania.  It  was 
a  memorable  moment,  in  which  Miihlenberg  profoundly  felt 
the  responsibility  which  he  took  upon  himself  and  the  dif- 
ficulties he  would  have  to  contend  with.  Viewing  the  very 
peculiar  character  of  his  mission,  he  was  distressed  with  seri- 
ous misgivings  about  his  own  ability.  The  comforting  and 
encouraging  words  of  his  fatherly  friend  proved  to  him  a 
great  blessing.  It  was  a  matter  of  minor  concern  that  the 
landlord  with  whom  he  lodged  in  Kensington,  a  godly  man, 
Mr.  Matthison,  who  had  in  1733  proved  himself  very  service- 
able, through  his  knowledge  of  the  English  language,  to  the 
first  company  of  Salzburg  Lutheran  refugees  on  their  voyage 
to  Savannah,  Ga.,  took  him  to  a  London  merchant-tailor  to 


4O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

procure  for  him  a  ministerial  gown,  an  article  in  those  times 
much  less  dispensable  to  a  pastor  than  in  our  age.  The  gown 
intended  for  public  services  in  Lutheran  churches  in  Pennsyl- 
vania was  like  the  gowns  of  the  clergy  of  the  Anglican  Church. 
In  this  kind  of  robe  Lutheran  pastors  were  hereafter  in  a  great 
many  places  in  America  clothed  when  performing  public  ser- 
vices. It  differs  considerably  from  the  official  dress  of  Luther- 
an clergymen  in  Germany  and  other  countries.  A  number 
of  other  necessaries  besides  this  had  to  be  provided  for  the 
voyage. 

During  his  stay  at  London,  Miihlenberg  sent  also  letters  to 
a  considerable  number  of  benevolent  patrons  and  dear  friends 
in  Germany,  among  whom  Francke  and  Oporin  were  not  for- 
gotten. 

It  was  the  wish  of  Ziegenhagen  that  Miihlenberg  should, 
before  proceeding  to  Pennsylvania,  pay  a  visit  in  Georgia  to 
the  Salzburg  Lutherans,  who  had  settled  there  and  founded 
Ebenezer,  about  twenty-four  miles  west  of  Savannah.  He  also 
desired  the  Rev.  Boltzius,  one  of  the  two  Ebenezer  pastors, 
to  accompany  Miihlenberg  to  Pennsylvania,  and  to  assist  him 
in  beginning  his  pastoral  labors  and  in  the  work  of  organizing 
in  the  same  way  the  Lutherans  found  there.  With  this  ar- 
rangement Miihlenberg  was  perfectly  satisfied,  and  takes  occa- 
sion in  his  narrative  to  refer  to  Eccles.  iv.  10:  "Woe  to  him 
that  is  alone,  when  he  falleth,  for  he  has  not  another  to  help 
him  up."  For  this  reason  Ziegenhagen  had  taken  passage 
for  him  on  the  packet-ship  for  Georgia,  which  the  trustees 
intended  to  send  thither,  where  General  J.  E.  Oglethorpe,  in 
their  behalf,  administered  the  affairs  of  the  province.  George 
II.  of  England  had  set  apart  a  large  tract  of  land  south  of  the 
Savannah  River  for  the  benefit  of  poor  people  of  England  and 
Protestant  refugees  from  other  countries.  The  management 
of  the  land  was  in  the  hands  of  a  number  of  bishops  and 
members  of  Parliament  as  trustees,  in  whose  behalf  Oglethorpe 
acted.  When  all  Protestant  Christendom  was  greatly  excited 
on  account  of  the  expulsion  of  thousands  of  orderly,  honest, 
and  industrious  evangelical  Christians  from  their  native  land 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  41 

and  their  homes  by  the  bigoted  and  intolerant  bishop  of  Salz- 
burg, L.  A.  Firmian,  about  1731,  the  trustees,  in  union  with  the 
"  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts," 
resolved  to  transport  three  hundred  of  these  exiles  to  Georgia, 
and  to  provide  for  them  in  temporal  and  spiritual  things  until 
they  were  able  to  take  care  of  themselves.  The  Rev.  Sam. 
Urlsperger,  senior  of  the  Lutheran  clergy  at  Augsburg, 
offered  his  services  in  this  philanthropic  enterprise.  Oct.  I, 
1733,  the  first  party  started  from  Augsburg,  and  were  joined  at 
Rotterdam  by  the  Rev.  John  Martin  Boltzius  and  Rev.  Israel 
Christian  Gronau,  formerly  teachers  in  the  institutions  founded 
by  H.  A.  Francke  at  Halle.  The  first  Salzburgers  arrived  at 
Savannah  March  n,  1734,  and  settled  in  the  locality  by  them 
called  Ebenezer.  Encouraged  by  good  reports  from  the  col- 
onists, in  September,  1734,  another  party,  of  fifty-seven  per- 
sons, left  for  Georgia,  who  again  were  followed  in  1736  by  a 
third  party.  Other  Salzburg  emigrants  had  in  1733  settled  in 
Holland,  but  were  not  in  congenial  surroundings  there,  and 
numbers  of  them  again  emigrated.  A  family  of  Salzburg 
emigrants  we  find  companions  of  Miihlenberg  on  his  voyage 
across  the  ocean.  They  were  of  those  who  for  a  time  had 
settled  in  Holland,  having  been  residents  of  Casant  in  the 
province  of  Seeland.  The  trustees  were  not  willing  to  pay 
their  travelling  expenses.  Ziegenhagen,  showing  a  noble 
example  of  Christian  charity,  gave  for  them  no  less  than 
about  thirty  pounds  sterling,  in  addition  to  which  they  had 
Miihlenberg  as  a  companion  and  as  a  spiritual  adviser  during 
the  voyage. 

After  sojourning  nine  weeks  in  London,  Miihlenberg  (Fri- 
day, June  nth)  took  farewell  of  Rev.  Butjender  and  Rev. 
Ziegenhagen.  With  the  latter  he  had  profitably  spent  some 
hours  of  that  day.  They  parted  with  the  feeling  that  they 
would  not  meet  again  in  this  world — a  presentiment  which 
the  Subsequent .  course  of  events  verified. 

On  the  following  day  Mr.  Matthison  and  Miihlenberg  took 
the  tide-boat  to  meet  the  packet-ship,  a  brigantine,  which  had 
proceeded  to  Gravesend.  In  the  afternoon  of  June  I3th, 


42  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Miihlenberg  went  on  the  ship,  where  he  met  a  number  of  the 
trustees,  and  was  introduced  to  the  captain,  McClellan,  who, 
as  Muhlenberg  says,  was  a  morose  Scotchman,  but  in  speaking 
Latin  used  the  continental  pronunciation — a  circumstance 
which  gave  Muhlenberg  an  opportunity  to  converse  with 
him  in  that  language.  With  the  rest  he  had  to  use  his  stock 
of  English  as  best  he  could. 


HENRY  ME  LC HI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  43 


CHAPTER   IV. 

1742  {continued}. 

Voyage  across  the  Atlantic. — The  armature  of  the  ship. — Misery  experienced. — 
Dangerous  foes. — Salzburgers  on  board. — Muhlenberg's  interest  in  them. — 
Slow  progress. — Painful  want  of  drinking-water. — Uncongenial  fellow-pas- 
sengers.— Muhlenberg's  influence  over  them.— He  conducts  services  in  the 
English  language. — His  conversation  with  the  Spanish  cook. 

ONE  of  the  first  objects  of  interest  to  a  traveller  going  on 
board  of  a  ship  is  to  inquire  about  the  kind  of  vessel 
to  which  he  commits  himself  and  the  passengers  with  whom 
he  is  there  to  associate.  Generally  speaking,  ships  crossing 
the  ocean  at  that  time  were  not  "  floating  palaces,"  as  we  now 
sometimes  hear  them  called,  but  rather  floating  prisons,  fort- 
resses, or,  what  is  much  worse,  hospitals.  Frightful  in  those 
times  in  many  cases  was  the  mortality  on  board  of  them.  For 
one-third  of  the  passengers  to  find  their  last  resting-place  in 
the  sea  was  nothing  uncommon.  One  vessel  which  in  1738 
arrived  in  Philadelphia  had  during  the  voyage  lost  no  less 
than  two  hundred  and  fifty  souls.  Passengers  were  crowded 
into  the  ships  in  a  most  inhuman  manner,  and  experienced 
frequently  most  unjust  and  cruel  treatment.  Diseases — 
among  them  smallpox,  the  most  loathsome  of  all — produced 
unspeakable  distress.  William  .Penn  himself  had  a  mournful 
experience  of  this  when  the  first  time,  in  1682,  he  paid  a  visit 
to  his  province,  Pennsylvania.  Christopher  Sauer,  who  de- 
serves to  be  kept  in  remembrance  as  the  publisher  of  the  first 
German  edition  of  the  Bible  in  America,  in  1743  at  German- 
town  (the  first  English  edition  appeared  at  Philadelphia  in 
1782),  and  editor  of  the  first  German  periodical  in  the  New 
World,  affirms  that  during  one  year  more  than  two  thousand 


44  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

individuals  had  died  whilst  coming  over  from  Europe,  and 
adds  that  this  had  happened  especially  in  consequence  of  the 
inhuman  treatment  to  which  passengers  were  exposed  and  the 
overcrowding  of  the  ships. 

The  ship  in  which  Miihlenberg,  as  he  says  in  his  diary,  with 
his  companions  had  to  live  or  to  die  was  provided  with  no  less 
than  ten  iron  cannons  and  quite  a  number  of  other  weapons 
of  war,  and  could  therefore  rather  be  called  a  floating  fortress, 
not  excluding,  however,  the  idea  of  a  prison.  The  idea  of  a 
fortress  held  good  as  long  as  no  powerful  and  dangerous 
enemy  was  at  hand.  In  such  an  event  the  fate  of  the  vessel 
appeared  to  Miihlenberg  quite  doubtful,  for  the  ship  was  an 
old  one,  had  seen  much  service,  had  only  two  masts,  and  thus 
little  chance  of  escape,  and  in  fact  only  seven  sailors  and  no 
soldiers.  What  good  could  the  ten  cannons  do  in  an  emer- 
gency ?  Among  the  six  steerage  passengers  were  the  Salz- 
burg family  and  four  adepts  of  the  art  of  tailoring;  the  cabins 
were  occupied,  in  addition  to  Miihlenberg,  by  a  lawyer,  a  cus- 
tom-house officer,  a  trader,  two  "  young  fellows,"  a  lieutenant, 
and  one  woman.  To  these  must  be  added  the  captain,  the 
cook  (a  Spanish  captive),  a  drummer,  a  boy  as  steward,  and 
the  helmsman.  Certainly,  all  these  forces  combined  were  not 
of  much  value  either  for  attack  or  defence.  The  misgivings 
of  Miihlenberg  on  the  emergency  question  were  apparently 
shared  by  the  gentlemen  trustees,  who  wisely  had  made  pro- 
.vision  to  have  the  Georgia  packet-ship  safely  escorted  by  a 
vessel  of  the  royal  navy — an  arrangement,  in  those  times  of 
frequent  piracy  and  privateering,  very  common,  and  calculated 
to  give  courage  to  the  passengers.  Miihlenberg  intimates 
that  his  companions  also  had  much  trust  in  their  royal 
convoy. 

June  13,  at  5  P.  M.,  the  anchors  were  weighed,  and  by  and 
by  the  houses  of  Gravesend  disappeared  in  the  background. 
There  was  no  attack  from  outside,  but  from  within  a  grim  foe 
did  his  humiliating  work,  and  before  long  the  whole  vessel 
looked,  as  Muhlenberg  says,  like  a  lazaretto.  Unfortunately, 
for  this  contingency  no  preparations  had  been  made ;  no  bed 


HENRY  MELCHfOR  MUHLENBERG.  45 

was  in  proper  condition  to  receive  the  sufferers  in  its  tender 
folds,  and  they  had  to  find  their  resting-places  here  and  there 
on  the  floor  as  best  they  could.  Miihlenberg  did  not  escape 
the  general  misery,  and  in  addition  to  it  caught  a  severe  cold, 
and  June  1 4th,  as  he  says,  "  could  not  lift  his  head."  The  ves- 
sel reached  Ramsgate  Road,  and  had  to  wait  for  high  tide. 
On  the  1 5th  they  passed  Dover,  had  fine  weather,  and  saw 
the  coast  of  France  and  even  some  church-spires.  Miihlen- 
berg,  however,  continued  in  his  miserable  condition,  though 
some  mulled  wine  to  which  the  captain  treated  him  made 
some  improvement  of  his  condition.  On  the  following  day 
a  two-masted  vessel  sailed  directly  toward  them.  The  cap- 
tain, stating  that  occasionally  Spanish  privateers  had  taken 
ships  by  pretending  to  be  French  fishing-vessels,  made  a 
display  of  both  courage  and  strength  by  commanding  the 
drummer  to  belabor  his  drum,  the  guns  to  be  loaded,  and 
everything  to  be  made  ready  for  defensive  action ;  then  asked 
the  foe,  through  the  speaking-trumpet,  what  they  wanted,  and 
received  the  comforting  answer  that  they  were  Frenchmen 
engaged  in  fishing.  Miihlenberg,  feeling  during  the  confu- 
sion concerned  about  the  Salzburgers  and  inquiring  after 
them,  was  pleased  to  find  the  mother  with  her  children 
engaged  in  singing  "  Ein  feste  Burg  ist  unser  Gott."  Such 
faith,  he  thought,  would  form  a  much  better  protection  than 
all  the  drumming  and  warlike  preparations.  He  adds  that  on 
this  occasion  he  was  much  distressed  by  the  English  habit 
of  cursing  and  swearing.  The  behavior  of  the  cabin-passen- 
gers, their  profane  language  and  absurd  pranks  at  this  time, 
were  exceedingly  disgusting  to  him,  and  he  took  no  pains  to 
conceal  the  state  of  his  mind.  They,  observing  this,  began 
to  rail  at  him,  to  which  the  captain,  though  himself  joining 
in  the  general  folly,  at  once  put  a  stop.  In  the  afternoon 
of  the  same  day  Miihlenberg  gave  the  children  of  the  Salz- 
burg family  a  lesson  in  reading — a  work  which  he  continued 
throughout  the  whole  voyage,  instructing  them  also  in  mat- 
ters of  religion.  He  also  held  frequently  religious  services 
with  the  whole  family,  and  sometimes  was,  when  the  weather 


46  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

was  pleasant,  sitting  with  them  on  deck  and  singing  the  well- 
known  German  church-songs,  which  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  other  passengers  and  the  crew. 

It  would  not  be  without  interest,  but  lead  us  too  far,  if  we 
were  to  follow  up  the  incidents  of  every  day  of  the  voyage, 
of  which  Muhlenberg  has  left  us  a  minute  description.  The 
ship  made  slow  progress — a  thing  in  those  days  not  at  all 
unusua.1.  Passing  Beachy  Head  June  i/th,  they  arrived  on 
the  following  day,  at  IIP.  M.,  at  Spithead,  near  Portsmouth, 
where  on  the  following  morning  six  men-of-war  of  the  Eng- 
lish navy  presented  a  beautiful  sight.  Most  of  the  passengers 
paid  a  visit  to  Portsmouth,  but  returned  in  the  evening  to  the 
vessel  in  a  drunken  condition,  much  to  the  chagrin  of  Muhl- 
enberg, who  had  used  the  quiet  day  to  bring  his  effects  into 
proper  order  and  for  meditation  and  prayer.  On  the  23d 
of  June  he  also  visited  Portsmouth,  with  a  view  once  more 
to  get  a  meal  which  his  stomach,  totally  nauseated  by  the 
fare  offered  in  the  ship,  might  possibly  retain.  The  captain 
received  here  the  unwelcome  information  that  the  convoy  he 
had  expected  could  not  be  given  to  him,  since  the  govern- 
ment of  England,  being  then  involved  in  a  naval  war  with 
France  and  Spain,  which  ended  with  the  Peace  of  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  in  1 748,  needed  all  available  war-vessels  for  another 
expedition  then  to  be  undertaken.  He  could,  however,  expect 
some  protection  from  a  man-of-war  which  had  orders  to  cruise 
in  the  English  Channel  as  far  west  as  Land's  End.  Signals 
having  been  given  by  this  vessel,  he  set  sail  June  2/th,  early 
in  the  morning,  but  reached  that  day,  sailing  against  contrary 
winds,  only  St.  Helen  on  the  Isle  of  Wight,  a  distance  of 
about  twenty-five  miles.  Starting  again  the  following  day, 
they  were  driven  back  by  the  storm,  and  had  to  lay  by,  as 
on  June  3Oth  the  force  of  the  storm  increased.  Muhlenberg, 
who  here  despatched  his  third  letter  since  leaving  London  to. 
Ziegenhagen,  found  himself  in  a  miserable  condition.  The 
Salzburgers,  who  alone  of  all  the  souls  on  board  could 
sympathize  with  his  religious  feelings,  became  a  source  of 
comfort  to  him,  and  he  delighted  in  devoting  to  them  as 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  47 

much  care  as  he  could.  It  was  here  reported  that  Spanish 
pirates  had  in  that  vicinity  taken  two  English  ships,  and  that 
another  pirate  ship  of  twenty-four  guns  was  cruising  in  the 
Channel.  July  3d  the  captain  returned  again  from  St.  Helen 
to  take  a  safe  position  among  the  ships  of  the  navy  near 
Portsmouth.  There  they  saw  the  Spanish  privateer  St. 
Sebastian,  which  ship  had  taken  no  less  than  thirty-nine 
English  vessels  before  it  was  overpowered.  An  English 
ship  with  two  hundred  Germans  on  board,  and  intended  for 
Philadelphia,  was  also  there  at  anchor,  but  in  a  sad  condi- 
tion, since  in  the  night  a  bloody  fight  had  taken  place  be- 
tween the  Germans  and  the  sailors. 

Another  attempt  was  made,  July  6th,  to  make  progress 
under  the  conduct  of  a  convoy.  The  weather  was  wet  and 
stormy.  The  behavior  of  the  passengers  in  cabin  and  steer- 
age was  disgusting  to  Miihlenberg,  who  lay  sick  in  his  ham- 
mock. He  felt  seriously  how  much  more  distressing  it  is  to 
be  sick  on  board  of  a  ship  than  on  land.  Meals  proper  for 
his  condition  he  could  not  procure.  There  was  a  fright  again 
among  the  crew  and  the  passengers  on  account  of  the  appear- 
ance of  three  vessels  of  doubtful  character.  But  they  proved 
to  be  friends.  July  Qth,  Land's  End  was  passed,  and  the  fol- 
lowing day  the  convoy  left  them,  the  captain  thereof  honestly 
stating  that  the  packet-ship  was  not  likely  to  reach  America, 
since  she  was  too  old  and  had  too  heavy  a  cargo.  The  cap- 
tain of  the  ship  was,  however,  not  at  all  despondent :  he  com- 
pelled all  the  men  on  board  to  drill,  handed  them  arms,  and 
gave  every  one  his  position  on  board  in  case  of  an  attack. 
The  smell  of  powder  on  this  occasion  had  a  wholesome  effect 
on  Miihlenberg,  so  that  he  could  take  and  retain  some  nour- 
ishment, the  first  time  for  a  number  of  days.  July  1 2th  a  ship 
came  in  sight,  but  soon  took  another  course.  The  same  hap- 
pened often  during  the  voyage,  but  no  attack  was  made.  Not 
before  July  22d  was  the  wind  favorable.  About  the  24th  the 
captain  supposed  that  they  were  near  the  island  of  Madeira; 
the  ship  was  then  in  latitude  36°  37'  N.,  and  continued  to  pur- 
sue a  southerly  course.  The  increase  of  a  warm  temperature 


48  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

was  painfully  felt,  and  drove  large  numbers  of  rats  from  the 
hold  of  the  ship  into  the  hammocks  of  the  passengers,  the 
perspiration  from  whose  bodies  they  licked  off  whilst  sleep- 
ing, and  disturbed  them.  July  2Qth  the  wind  again  took  a 
contrary  turn.  August  5th,  a  happy  change  took  place,  and  the 
ship  made  considerable  headway.  Aug.  6th  they  were  in  lat- 
itude 29°  2' ;  on  the  loth  they  passed  the  Tropic  of  Cancer, 
which  gave  to  the  crew  of  the  vessel  occasion  to  amuse  them- 
selves, according  to  custom,  at  the  expense  of  the  passengers, 
two  of  whom  they  took  from  the  steerage,  -tied  them  with 
ropes,  and  repeatedly  immersed  them  in  the  waters  of  the 
ocean.  For  the  Salzburgers,  Miihlenberg  paid  a  ransom  to 
secure  them  against  such  frivolities.  Aug.  I4th  they  were 
becalmed,  which  condition  continued  for  a  number  of  days. 
These  days  of  welcome  rest  Miihlenberg  employed  to  write 
his  diary.  Aug.  3Oth  the  wind  changed  to  the  north,  chilled 
the  air,  and  brought  rain.  Every  one  now  hastened  to  gather 
the  falling  drops  in  every  available  manner  and  all  sorts  of 
vessels.  Such  water  was  neither  clean  nor  sweet,  but  com- 
pared with  the  water  on  board  of  the  ship  it  was  prized  highly. 
Unfortunately,  the  supply  was  very  limited,  and  soon  the  lack 
of  drinkable  water  was  most  painfully  felt  by  the  passengers 
and  by  the  crew.  Sept.  6th  the  captain  reckoned  that  he 
could  not  be  very  far  distant  from  Carolina.  Seeing  a  bank 
of  fog,  some  had  cried,  "  Land !  land !"  Of  water  very  small 
rations  were  now  given.  Sept.  ^th  and  the  following  days  a 
contrary  wind  drove  them  backward.  On  the  9th  they  were 
becalmed.  The  lack  of  water  was  now  felt  as  a  painful  afflic- 
tion, and,  becoming  more  and  more  serious,  the  captain  re- 
membered that  he  had  somewhere  on  board  some  bottles  of 
vinegar.  They  were  found,  but  some  of  them  without  corks 
and  half  empty.  The  mystery  of  this  phenomenon  was  solved 
by  observing  that  the  rats  gnawed  off  the  corks  and  put  their 
tails  down  into  the  bottles,  in  this  cunning  manner  to  get  and 
to  enjoy  the  fluid.  We  may  easily  imagine  that  a  shower  of 
rain,  setting  in  on  the  following  day,  was  considered  a  real 
Godsend.  Another  and  a  heavier  one  on  Sept.  1 2th  met  with 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG. 


49 


no  less  appreciation.  On  Sept.  i6th  all  on  board  the  ship 
were  without  any  drinkable  water.  To  attract  the  attention 
of  two  English  war-ships  cruising  in  the  vicinity  the  captain 
hoisted  the  Spanish  colors.  They  came  now  without  any 
delay,  and  their  commanders,  hearing  that  the  packet  wished 
to  deliver  letters  to  them  and  that  .there  was  no  drinkable 
water  on  board,  assisted  the  sufferers  by  giving  them  three 
casks  of  the  precious  fluid.  The  water  leaking  from  them 
was  taken  up  by  the  Salzburg  children  as  if  it  was  nectar, 
though  it  was  anything  but  fresh  and  sweet.  On  account 
of  the  danger  of  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards,  who 
a  few  weeks  previous  had  landed  five  thousand  soldiers  in 
Georgia,  it  was  resolved  to  follow  in  the  wake  of  the  two  ships 
of  war,  which  sailed  for  Charleston.  But,  losing  sight  of  them, 
the  captain,  finding  his  way  finally  to  the  sand-banks  on  the 
coast  of  South  Carolina  not  very  far  from  Charleston,  met  on 
Tuesday,  Sept.  2ist,  with  a  pilot,  and  on  the  following  day  in 
the  morning  fired  a  salute  in  the  harbor  with  his  rusty  can- 
nons, to  which  the  ship  of  the  commodore  stationed  there 
promptly  responded.  Miihlenberg  set  his  foot  Sept.  23d  upon 
the  soil  of  the  New  World. 

No  less  than  one  hundred  and  two  days  had  been  spent  on 
board  of  the  Georgia  packet-ship.  To  him  those  days  were 
not  only  exceedingly  tedious,  but  they  were  to  a  large  extent 
a  period  of  actual  misery.  It  seems  that  he  was  constitution- 
ally more  than  many  others  a  prey  to  sea- sickness.  Through- 
out the  whole  voyage  he  had  again  and  again  to  succumb  to 
that  disgusting  enemy,  calculated  to  destroy  whatever  there  is 
of  pleasure  or  interest  in  crossing  the  mighty  ocean.  But 
Miihlenberg's  vital  force,  in  addition  to  this  aggravated  mal- 
ady, had  to  fight  against  sickness  in  another  and  more  dan- 
gerous form.  All  the  ordinary  functions  of  the  bodily  organ- 
ism were  greatly  disturbed,  and  he  was  so  reduced  that  he  had 
the  strongest  reasons  to  think  that  his  end  was  near.  His 
stomach  had  with  dreadful  obstinacy  refused  to  retain  any 
food.  A  drink  of  clear,  cold,  refreshing  water  was  not  to  be 
had.  The  passengers  one  day  had  caught  some  mackerel,  and 

4 


5O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

after  having  some  properly  prepared  they  brought  it  to  Miihl- 
enberg,  who  was  laid  up  in  bed.  This  morsel  of  fresh  and 
digestible  food  he  could  enjoy,  and  it  moved  him  to  special 
gratitude  toward  God.  One  of  the  first  things  he  did  after 
passing,  Sept.  22d,  the  fort  in  the  harbor  of  Charleston,  was 
to  have  some  fresh  vegetables  brought  on  board ;  which  to 
him  and  the  Salzburgers  proved  quite  a  rare  treat. 

Bodily  ills  were,  however,  the  minor  part  of  the  sufferings 
from  which  in  that  ship  there  was  no  escape.  There  was  not 
one  soul  on  board  who  was  able  to  offer  to  Miihlenberg  any 
social  satisfaction  or  to  enter  with  sympathy  and  encourage- 
ment into  his  religious  views  and  feelings.  It  was  some  cause 
of  satisfaction  to  him  that  in  quiet  hours  he  could  join  the 
Salzburger  family  on  deck  and  sit  with  them  singing  the 
grand  old  soul-stirring  church-songs,  or  pray  with  them  or 
explain  to  them  the  precious  words  of  the  gospel  and  apply 
them  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  under  which  all  were 
placed,  or  instruct  the  children.  But  whilst  he  could  give 
to  them  in  divine  things,  their  education  and  spiritual  condi- 
tion were  not  advanced  enough  to  prove  a  benefit  to  him. 

As  to  the  rest  of  the  society  on  board  of  the  ship,  the  whole 
party  was,  without  any  exception,  of  a  very  indifferent  character. 
There  was  not  only  the  continuous  use  of  profane  language, 
but  the  principles,  manners,  enjoyments,  tendencies  of  these 
people  were  so  totally  worldly  and  vulgar,  and  the  standard 
of  their  education  was  so  low,  that  not  with  one  of  them  could 
Miihlenberg  enter  into  a  friendly  exchange  of  sentiments  and 
feelings.  Occasionally  better  elements  seemed  to  gain  con- 
trol over  these  men.  But  all  of  a  sudden  the  wild,  frivolous 
spirit  broke  out  irrepressibly.  The  young  merchant  who  was 
one  of  the  company  had  for  a  time  by  his  sedate  behavior 
made  a  favorable  impression  upon  Miihlenberg ;  but  when,  in 
consequence  of  an  altercation,  a  boxing-match  was  arranged 
between  two  passengers,  that  young  man  was  the  most  busy 
in  giving  a  helping  hand  to  the  disgusting  affair.  When 
Miihlenberg  reproached  him  on  this  subject,  he  answered 
that  his  only  interest  had  been  to  see  that  all  would  be  carried 


HENRY  MELCH1OR  MUHLENBERG.  51 

out  "  in  good  Christian  order."  One  of  the  passengers  felt 
moved  in  a  quiet  evening  hour  to  read  to  his  companions  a 
religious  tract.  Miihlenberg  relates  that  they  all  felt  very 
drowsy,  and  some  fell  asleep  whilst  the  reading  proceeded, 
but  that  after  the  recital  had  come  to  an  end  they  were  all 
very  lively.  That  the  entertainments  which  they  used  to 
while  away  the  time,  such  as  singing  of  worldly  songs  of  a 
doubtful  character,  disputations,  mock  trials,  and  similar  pas- 
times, were  not  to  his  taste  needs  no  remark. 

But  it  is  a  circumstance  pleasant  and  instructive  to  read 
that  Miihlenberg,  who  never  held  back  his  own  principles 
and  convictions,  enjoyed  not  only  the  respect  due  to  his  official 
character,  but  indeed  the  high  personal  esteem  of  the  whole 
ship's  company,  and  especially  of  his  fellow-passengers  in  the 
cabin.  They  soon  found  out  what  manner  of  man  he  was. 
The  impressions  they  received  from  his  way  of  speaking  and 
acting  and  from  his  whole  personality  were  of  such  a  charac- 
ter that,  whilst  he  could  not  bring  about  in  the  short  space  of 
time  allotted  to  him  and  under  peculiar  trying  circumstances, 
a  desirable  change  of  their  principles  and  views,  and  could  not 
prevent  the  natural  outbreak  of  their  unchristian  spirits  on 
many  occasions,  he  nevertheless  in  various  ways  exercised  a 
controlling  influence  over  them.  Not  for  a  moment  did  he  in 
word  or  deed  put  under  the  bushel  his  character  as  a  Christian 
or  as  a  minister  and  messenger  of  Christ.  Perhaps  some  of  the 
views  advanced  by  him  in  his  frequent  conversations  with  the 
members  of  the  society  around  him  may  to  some  appear  to 
have  been  somewhat  too  rigoristic,  too  exacting.  But  his 
arguments  against  dancing,  duelling — a  duel  with  swords  or 
pistols  between  the  lawyer  and  the  custom-house  officer  was 
already  proposed,  and  only  prevented  by  his  interference — 
and  against  similar  exhibitions  of  the  natural  man  and  his 
propensities,  were  of  such  practical  convincing  force  that  they 
were  calculated  to  move  the  thoughts  of  his  hearers  in  a  dif- 
ferent direction.  Indeed,  they  have  not  lost  their  power 
at  the  present  day.  The  judicious  zeal  with  which  Miihlen- 
berg often,  not  without  a  happy  gleam  of  genuine  humor  and 


52  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

wit  quite  peculiar  to  him,  approached  the  heads  and  the  hearts 
of  the  motley  company  around  him  deserves  all  admiration. 

It  is  a  pleasant  testimony  to  the  esteem  in  which  Miihlen- 
berg was  held  by  the  captain  and  all  the  company  on  board 
of  the  ship  that  not  officially,  but  actually,  he  performed  the 
part  of  the  ship's  chaplain.  He  placed  himself  in  this  posi- 
tion, taking  his  own  way.  When,  Sunday,  July  4th,  he  had 
held  service  with  the  Salzburgers,  and  some  of  the  passengers 
had  taken  a  boat  for  Portsmouth,  in  the  neighborhood  of  which 
the  ship  at  that  time  was  lying  at  anchor,  Miihlenberg,  being 
left  alone  with  the  captain  and  the  rest  of  the  company, 
requested  that  some  one  would  read  chapter  xv.  of  the 
Gospel  of  St.  Luke.  After  this  was  done  he  put  the  ques- 
tion as  to  what  the  meaning  and  import  of  these  parables 
were.  Every  one  gave  his  opinion,  especially  on  the  Prodigal 
Son.  The  captain's  view,  that  he  ceased  to  live  a  vicious  life 
and  adopted  an  honest  and  respectable  course,  was  sufficiently 
and  easily  refuted  by  simply  referring  to  the  words  of  the  con- 
text. The  conversation  having  turned  to  the  first  part  of  chap- 
ter iii.  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  the  captain  asked  what  the 
words  "  water  and  spirit "  here  indicated.  Miihlenbepg  eluci- 
dated this  by  referring  to  Num.  xix. ;  Heb.  ix. ;  John  xix.  34, 
35.  Finally,  the  conversation  drifted  to  the  topic  of  predes- 
tination, which  gave  Miihlenberg  an  occasion  to  elucidate  the 
Bible  teachings  on  this  point.  The  captain  seemed  to  be  well 
pleased,  and  the  others  also  expressed  their  gratitude.  When, 
on  the  following  Sunday,  Miihlenberg  again  held  service  with 
the  Salzburgers,  the  captain  and  some  of  the  Englishmen 
attended,  though  at  a  distance,  and  were  apparently  affected 
by  the  German  singing.  They  felt  urged  also  to 'do  some- 
thing for  their  improvement :  one  of  them  took  his  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  another  the  .Spectator,  another  Fenelon's 
Adventures  of  Telemachus.  Muhlenberg  then  took  advantage 
of  the  opportunity  to  speak  privately  to  the  captain,  and  to 
remind  him  of  his  duty  as  a  father  to  have  a  concern  also  for 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  all  the  souls  entrusted  to  him.  He 
told  him  plainly  that  on  board  of  his  ship  not  the  least  was 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.         53 

done  for  the  edification  of  the  people  in  the  English  language, 
and  suggested  that  there  were  persons  there  who  could  read 
a  chapter  of  the  Bible  or  a  printed  English  sermon,  or  could 
even  sing  a  psalm,  since  they  at  least  were  called  Christians. 
To  this  the  captain  simply  answered  with  a  sigh.  A  few  days 
later  Muhlenberg  found  a  chance  again  to  address  himself  to 
the  passengers.  They  inquired  what  was  the  origin  of  the 
word  "  Protestant."  He  gave  them  a  short  sketch  of  the  life 
of  Luther  and  of  the  history  of  the  Reformation,  but  finished 
by  telling  them  that  from  the  greatest  to  the  least  he  could 
not  call  them  true  Protestants,  but  rather  the  reverse  of  this, 
since  by  their  lives  and  behavior  they  protested  against  God 
and  his  holy  Word,  to  the  great  injury  of  themselves.  They 
admitted  that  in  this  he  was  right. 

It  is  plain  that  if  Muhlenberg  wanted  any  office  on  board 
the  ship,  he  did  not  use  flattery  as  a  means  of  ingratiating 
himself  with  them.  But  when,  during  the  morning  hours  of 
Sunday,  July  i8th,  he  had  again  held  religious  services  with 
the  Salzburgers,  in  the  afternoon  the  captain  requested  him  to 
hold  divine  service  with  the  whole  company  on  the  ship.  To 
his  answer  that  he  did  not  feel  himself  sufficiently  master  of 
the  English  language,  and  was  afraid  of  giving  occasion  of 
derision,  the  captain  paid  no  attention.  The  lawyer  was  re- 
quested to  read  prayers  from  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 
The  people  were  gathered  together  by  the  sound  of  the  bell, 
prayers  were  read,  and  Muhlenberg  delivered  his  first  English 
sermon,  the  ship  being  his  church,  with  the  heavens  as  the 
dome  over  it,  and  the  strangers  around  him  his  congregation, 
and  as  such  attentive  enough.  When  he  was  occasionally  in 
want  of  a  'proper  English  word  he  gave  it  in  Latin  to  the  cap- 
tain at  his  side,  and  he  put  it  in  English.  If  we  should  for  a 
moment  doubt  whether  the  seed  thus  strewn  upon  those 
souls  on  the  wide  expanse  of  the  ocean  resulted  in  any  good 
fruit,  eternity  alone  will  answer. 

On  every  succeeding  Sunday  during  the  voyage  Muhlen- 
berg was  requested  to  hold  service  in  the  English  language 
for  the  benefit  of  the  people  on  board  the  ship.  He  was  also 


54  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

expected  to  read  the  prayers,  since  the  lawyer,  who  thus  far  had 
served  as  a  lay-reader,  in  consequence  of  his  general  charac- 
ter no  longer  appeared  the  proper  individual  for  the  perform- 
ance of  that  duty.  Muhlenberg  found  no  reason  why  he  should 
not,  under  the  peculiar  circumstances  in  which  he  found  himself, 
use  the  prayers  which  to  the  people  of  the  Anglican  Church 
were  a  rich  source  of  edification.  Service  was  usually  held 
toward  evening,  when  the  oppressive  heat  somewhat  dimin- 
ished. The  texts  of  his  sermons  he  selected  with  a  proper 
regard  for  the  necessities  of  his  hearers.  Considering  that 
the  words  of  Ezekiel  xviii.  27  are  among  the  introductory 
verses  in  the  Evening  Prayer  found  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  and  that  his  hearers  so  often  had  listened  to  them 
without  properly  appreciating  their  meaning,  he  spoke,  July 
25th,  the  sixth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  on  those  words,  and  was 
gratified  to  see  the  close  attention  of  his  auditory,  but  grieved 
to  find  that  impressions  received  were  not  powerful  enough  to 
counteract  the  force  of  worldly  habits  and  ungodly  proclivi- 
ties. His  sermon  had  five  parts.  On  three  of  these — viz.  the 
meaning  of  the  words  "  the  wicked,"  the  characteristics  of 
wickedness,  and  the  turning  away  from  it — he  had  spoken.  On 
the  following  Sunday  the  captain  requested  him  to  continue 
that  sermon.  Muhlenberg  spoke  o'n  the  two  other  parts,  the 
turning  to  Christ  and  the  walk  and  conversation  of  the  con- 
verted. He  noticed  a  considerable  interest  on  the  part  of 
some  of  his  hearers  in  the  truth  laid  before  them,  and  found 
it  advisable  on  Sunday,  Aug.  1 5th,  once  more  to  return  to 
that  text,  especially  to  the  concluding  words :  "  He  shall  save 
his  soul  alive."  On  Sunday,  Aug.  22d,  he  felt  little  disposed 
to  preach  again,  since  the  behavior  of  his  fellow-passengers 
had  been  rather  discouraging  to  him.  But  the  request  having 
been  made  repeatedly,  he  resisted  no  longer,  but  preached  on 
Matt.  v.  3  :  "  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  Sunday,  Aug.  29th,  he  spoke  on  John 
vii.  33 :  "If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  me  and 
drink ;"  Sept.  5th,  on  Luke  xviii.  9-14,  the  Pharisee  and  the 
Publican;  Sept.  I2th,  on  Heb.  xii.  22-25;  Sept.  I9th,  on 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  55 

Ps.  1.  5.  But  whilst  trying  to  benefit  those  whom  he  could 
approach  only  in  the  English  language,  he  was  not  neglect- 
ful of  others,  and  held  every  Sunday  forenoon  special  services 
with  the  Salzburgers. 

In  all  this  Miihlenberg  was  certainly  doing  a  good  work. 
But  with  these  public  and  general  services  he  was  not  satis- 
fied, and  therefore  undertook,  whenever  occasion  was  given, 
to  exercise  special  pastoral  care  in  his  intercourse  with  the 
diverse  souls  with  whom  God  there  had  placed  him.  Even 
that  unfortunate  captive,  the  cook,  who  as  a  Spaniard  was 
under  the  sway  of  his  Roman  Catholic  views  and  traditions, 
was  drawn  by  Miihlenberg  into  conversation.  The  cook  com- 
plained that  he  had  been  greatly  offended  at  London  by  the 
behavior  of  persons  professedly  belonging  to  the  Anglican 
Church,  and  that  the  same  had  taken  place  on  board  of  this 
ship :  there  was,  he  said,  much  more  devotion  observable  on 
Spanish  ships.  Miihlenberg  answered  that  he  would  allow 
him  as  a  cook  of  good  common  sense  to  judge  for  himself. 
If,  on  the  one  hand,  a  wealthy  gentleman  of  high  position 
should  furnish  a  room  and  in  it  a  splendid  supper,  and  deco- 
rate the  wall  with  the  finest  paintings,  and  set  out  the  tables 
with  imitations  in  wood  and  stone  of  all  sorts  of  viands,  and 
command,  under  pain  of  punishment,  his  hungry  and  thirsty, 
blind  and  lame,  healthy  and  sick  subjects  to  come  in,  what 
benefit  could  these  guests  derive  from  all  this  splendid  mock- 
ery ?  They  would  come  out  of  the  hall  the  same  miserable, 
needy  beings  they  were  when  they  entered.  Now,  on  the 
other  hand,  said  he,  the  great  King  of  kings  has  prepared  a 
place  where  all  the  walls  are  hanging  full  of  garments  to 
cover  the  entire  body,  where  the  tables  are  laden  with  the 
finest  bread,  milk,  wine,  and  other  kinds  of  wholesome  food, 
and  where  never-failing  medicines  are  plentifully  supplied  to 
heal  all  diseases;  and  the  King  sends  a  proclamation  that 
all  his  subjects  are  at  liberty  to  come,  no  matter  what  their 
condition  and  social  position,  and  receive  all  as  a  gift  of  free 
grace  without  any  compensation.  Miihlenberg  wished  the 
cook  to  judge  for  himself  about  the  respective  value  of  each 


56  LIFE   AND    TIMES   OF 

of  the  two  arrangements.  "  In  your  Church,"  he  said,  "  there 
are  very  splendid  paintings  and  imposing  representations,  but 
the  bread,  the  milk,  the  wine,  the  garments  of  salvation,  the 
medicines,  are  not  given  to  you:  in  the  evangelical  Church 
the  substantial  realities  are  placed  before  the  people  and  freely 
offered  to  them.  Of  course  there  are  those  who  thankfully 
accept  of  them,  and  are  benefited  for  time  and  eternity  ;  many 
others  make  no  proper  use  of  the  grace  offered  to  them  and 
are  heedless  to  their  own  loss."  The  cook  found  these  com- 
parisons perfectly  comprehensible,  but  maintained  that  the 
Bread  of  life  was  not  withheld  in  his  Church  from  the  peo- 
ple, and  that  the  ceremonies  they  could  count  additional 
entremets.  Miihlenberg  intimated  that  Christ,  the  real 
Saviour  of  the  world,  was  the  only  Bread  of  life — that  his 
righteousness  was  the  only  raiment  of  honor  in  which  alone 
a  penitent  and  believing  sinner  can  appear  before  God.  The 
words  which  came  from  Christ's  lips  unaltered  and  unabbre- 
viated, his  Spirit  operative  through  them,  and  the  sacraments 
ordained  by  him,  are  milk  and  wine  and  unfailing  medicine  for 
our  souls.  Mary's  soul  and  the  souls  of  other  saints  are  in 
the  place  allotted  to  them ;  the  bodies  are  given  to  corruption, 
and  their  artistic  representations  are  mere  shadowy  things  in 
which  there  is  no  salt,  no  strength,  no  life.  The  cook  thought 
that  in  his  country  such  teachings  would  not  be  tolerated. 
Miihlenberg  indicated  as  the  cause  of  this  that  men  loved 
darkness  more  than  light  and  truth.  The  cook  replied  that 
in  his  Church  all  were  united  under  one  head,  but  that  there 
were  among  Protestants  as  many  diverging  opinions  as  heads. 
Miihlenberg  said  that  he  could  enlarge  much  on  this  subject; 
he  would,  however,  briefly  illustrate  the  matter  by  a  compari- 
son. The  Roman  Church  was  like  a  very  large  cemetery, 
extending  over  the  whole  earth,  in  which  a  large  number  of 
undertakers,  gravediggers,  pipers,  etc.  are  entertained,  and 
these  dead  ones  bury  the  dead.  In  the  cemetery  all  is 
quiet,  peaceful,  silent,  but  among  the  undertakers,  gravedig- 
gers, pipers,  etc.  there  is  no  end  to  parties,  disputes,  con- 
flicts ;  and  they  long  ago  would  have  devoured  one  another 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  57 

had  not  secular  and  worldly  interests  kept  them  under  some 
control.  The  Protestant  religion  and  Church,  on  the  other 
hand,  could  be  compared  to  an  extensive,  well-built  hospital 
of  many  wards  and  rooms,  all  under  one  roof  and  full  of 
innumerable  sick  people,  suffering  with  all  conceivable  heredi- 
tary diseases  and  maladies,  provided  with  many  doctors,  sur- 
geons, assistants,  nurses,  attendants,  and  supplied  with  medi- 
cines and  all  possible  means  and  instrumentalities  to  care  for 
the  sufferers.  Of  course  there  is  in  it  no  end  of  complaints, 
cries,  murmurings,  desires;  the  medicines  also  are  often  abused, 
and  there  are  vitiated  exhalations  from  the  many  sick,  and 
disputes  going  on  among  the  doctors,  superintendents,  and 
nurses.  But  all  this  is  under  perpetual  control  of  an  almighty, 
omnipresent,  most  benevolent,  gracious,  and  merciful  Head 
and  Master  who  overrules  all  and  exercises  compassion.  "  Now 
say,  dear  cook,  would  you  rather  be  dead  than  alive  ?  Is  not 
life  sweet  ?  Would  you  not  rather  live  among  the  sick  in  the 
hospital,  in  hope  of  perfect  restoration,  than  decay  silently  in 
the  cemetery  ?"  The  cook  said  he  hoped  to  be  saved  in  the 
Church  in  which  he  was  born.  Miihlenberg  told  him  that 
he,  like  all  the  children  of  Adam,  was  conceived  in  sin,  born 
flesh  of  flesh,  dead  unto  that  which  was  good  in  the  sight  of 
God,  and  inclined  to  evil ;  that  through  holy  baptism  he  was 
engrafted  into  Christ  as  the  Tree  of  life,  transferred  into  the 
kingdom  of  grace  through  the  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
to  the  end  that  he  should  devote  his  life  to  Him  who  had 
died  for  him  and  risen  again,  and  now  sitteth  at  the  right 
hand  of  God  the  Father.  "  Did  you,"  asked  Miihlenberg, 
"  keep  the  sacred  covenant  of  your  baptism  ?  Did  you  never 
willingly  and  purposely  do  wrong  since  the  time  your  con- 
science has  admonished  you  and  told  you  of  the  distinction 
between  right  and  wrong  ?"  The  man  admitted  that  he  had 
grievously  sinned.  To  the  question  how  he  hoped  to  be 
released  of  his  sins  and  be  saved,  he  answered,  "  By  interces- 
sions and  good  works/'  He  thought  that  a  poor  subject  had 
little  chance  in  his  distress  of  being  admitted  to  the  king,  but 
through  a  friend  at  the  royal  court  hfc  might  obtain  his  object. 


58  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

This  comparison  Muhlenberg  considered  as  faulty  in  such 
aspect.  Kings  and  their  courtiers  deserve  all  proper  honor ; 
they  can  prove  a  great  help  to  their  distressed  subjects,  but 
they  cannot  forgive  sins :  no  one  on  earth  save  Jesus  Christ 
has  power  to  forgive  sin.  God's  command  is,  "  Thou  shalt 
worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  serve  him  alone."  The  case 
was  a  clear  one :  a  king  may  have  thousands  of  poor  suffer- 
ing subjects :  if  every  one  of  them  required  his  own  interces- 
sor, the  king  would  be  obliged  to  have  an  equal  number  of 
courtiers;  therefore  a  comparison  between  Christ,  the  King 
of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords)  and  an  earthly  potentate,  is  out 
of  place ;  Christ  knoweth  all,  and  is  gracious  and  full  of 
compassion ;  there  is  with  him  no  need  of  intercessors,  since 
he  himself  intercedes  for  us  with  the  Father.  He  invites  all 
heavy- ladened,  hungry,  and  thirsty  souls,  all  sick  and  broken 
hearts,  sinners  and  publicans,  not  to  angels  or  to  the  Virgin 
Mary  or  saints,  but  to  himself  and  to  the  Father ;  and  there 
is  salvation  in  no  other  name  but  his  own.  "As  to  good 
works,"  he  said,  "  no  one  could  rationally  suppose  that  a 
gardener  could  offer  to  his  master  good  apples  or  apricots 
when  not  even  a  seed  or  a  tree  is  planted :  from  an  uncon- 
verted man  dead  in  sin  we  could  as  little  expect  works  pleas- 
ing in  the  sight  of  God  as  grapes  from  thorns  or  figs  from 
thistles."  The  cook  said  that  all  this  he  had  pretty  well 
understood,  and  intended  with  his  prayers  directly  to  go  to 
Christ.  Muhlenberg  adds  that  the  man  proved  to  be  very 
reliable  and  willing  in  the  duties  of  his  office,  that  he  was 
kindly  disposed  toward  the  Salzburgers,  and  that  nobody 
ever  heard  him  use  profane  language,  which  of  some  of  the 
Protestants  on  board  could  not  be  said. 

The  conversation  with  this  cook  has  a  peculiar  interest  for 
us.  Not  one  of  Miihlenberg's  sermons  has  in  its  entire  form 
come  down  to  us.  We  have  found  in  his  manuscripts  skeletons 
of  such,  which  prove  the  faithful  conscientiousness  and  zeal 
wherewith  he  attended  to  this  important  part  of  his  pastoral 
duty.  But  we  are  perhaps  not  committing  an  error  in  consid- 
ering his  conversation  with  the  cook  as  typical  of  the  popular, 


HENRY  MELCHIOR   MUHLENBERG.  59 

illustrative,  argumentative,  interesting  method  he  used  in  ad- 
dressing the  people. 

One  thing  is  certain :  no  man  could  make  better  use  of  his 
time  and  opportunities  than  Miihlenberg  did  under  discourag- 
ing circumstances  during  the  tedious  voyage  across  the  Atlan- 
tic. With  him  theology  was  indeed  not  a  possession  of  a  cer- 
tain compass  of  knowledge,  but  the  habitus  of  the  whole  man. 
While  others  trifled  away  the  precious  days  he  was  always 
ready  and  active  in  throwing  out  his  net  into  the  waters  of 
the  deep  to  catch  souls  and  to  bring  them  to  Christ. 


6O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 


CHAPTER  V. 

1742  (continued], 

Arrival  at  Charleston. — Miihlenberg's  inquiries  for  the  Germans  there. — John 
Lederer,  the  German  explorer  of  the  Carolinas — Dutch  Lutherans  in  South 
Carolina. — German  settlers  on  the  Congaree. — Miihlenberg  meets  negro 
slaves. — He  sets  out  for  Georgia.— Incidents. — Divine  services  on  shore  in  a 
Presbyterian  family. — Beaufort. — Arrival  at  Savannah. — James  Oglethorpe. — 
John  and  Charles  Wesley. — Methodism  in  contact  with  Pietism  and  Moravian- 
ism. — Thomas  Stephens. — Rev.  J.  Chr.  Gronau  comes  to  meet  Miihlenberg, 
and  accompanies  him  to  Ebenezer. — The  locality. — Rev.  J.  M.  Boltzius. — 
Rev  H.  H.  Lembke. — Condition  of  the  Salzburgers. — J.  Fr.  Vigera. — Do- 
nation of  J.  M.  Kiderlin. 

WHEN  Muhlenberg  (Sept.  23,  1742)  was  transferred  in  a 
canoe  from  the  Georgia  packet-ship,  in  which  he  had 
in  his  voyage  across  the  Atlantic  been  imprisoned  for  about 
fifteen  weeks,  to  Charleston,  his  first  inquiry  was  whether  he 
could  find  there  any  of  his  German  countrymen. 

The  name  of  the  German  explorer  John  Lederer,  a  man  of 
education,  is  for  ever  connected  with  the  history  of  both  Car- 
olinas. He  was  sent  out  in  the  years  1669  and  1670  by  Gov- 
ernor Berkeley  of  Virginia  in  three  different  expeditions  to 
explore  the  lands  south  and  west  of  the  James  River.  At 
that  time  there  were  in  North  Carolina  no  white  settlers. 
The  whole  extensive  territory  was  in  the  undisputed  posses- 
sion of  the  Indians.  On  his  second  expedition  Lederer — who 
was  left  alone  with  an  Indian,  as  his  English  companions  from 
lack  of  courage  had  forsaken  him — found  his  way  through  the 
wilderness  and  the  Indians,  who  sometimes  treated  him  kindly, 
sometimes  threatened  his  life,  as  far  south  as  the  Santee  River, 
consequently  into  the  very  centre  of  the  present  State  of  South 
Carolina.  When  he  returned  to  Virginia  the  envy  of  his  former 


HENRY  MELCH10R  MUHLENBERG.  6 1 

companions  deprived  him  of  the  credit  due  to  his  heroism. 
Governor  Talbot  of  Maryland,  becoming  acquainted  with  him, 
translated  Lederer's  journal  from  Latin,  in  which  it  was  orig- 
inally written,  into  English,  and  published  it.  Thus  the  trav- 
eller's name  and  work  were  preserved,  and  contribute  to  the 
history  of  geographical  discoveries. 

Whilst  John  Lederer  in  1670  broke  through  the  wilderness, 
the  first  settlers,  Englishmen,  arrived  in  the  south-eastern  part 
of  South  Carolina  on  the  island  of  Port  Royal,  near  the  pres- 
ent Beaufort,  but  settled  a  few  months  later,  "  for  the  conve- 
nience of  pasturage  and  tillage,"  on  the  banks  of  the  Ashley 
River,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  Charleston,  several  miles 
from  the  present  city,  which,  situated  on  a  peninsula  between 
Cooper  and  Ashley  Rivers,  was  on  account  of  its  healthier 
climate  selected  in  1680  as  the  more  favorable  locality  by 
forty-eight  families  of  the  older  settlement. 

It  appears  that  in  the  year  1674,  after  New  Amsterdam 
(New  York)  had  the  second  time  been  taken  by  the  English, 
a  number  of  Dutchmen,  not  satisfied  with  the  change  of  cir- 
cumstances, moved  from  the  Hudson  to  South  Carolina,  and 
settled  on  James  Island  on  the  south-west  side  of  Ashley 
River.  There  is  enough  historical  evidence  to  prove  that 
they  were  Lutherans,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they 
had  been  members  of  the  Dutch  Lutheran  congregation,  of 
which  we  know  that  a  house  of  worship  was  erected  by  them 
about  the  years  1670  and  1671  in  New  Amsterdam,  and  that 
at  the  time  when  some  of  the  Dutch  Lutherans  moved  to 
South  Carolina  the  Rev.  Bernhard  Anton  Arens  served  the 
congregation  at  New  Amsterdam.  The  Lutheran  settlers 
in  South  Carolina  in  the  year  1704  stood  up  energetically 
for  their  Lutheran  creed  and  worship  when  an  attempt  was 
made  to  raise  the  Episcopal  Church  to  the  dignity  of  State 
Church  in  the  province. 

In  what  year  the  first  Germans  landed  and  settled  in  Charles- 
ton we  are  unable  to  say.  We  know  that  Queen  Anne  of 
England,  upon  whose  good- will  -in  the  years  1708  and  1709 
thousands  of  Palatine  Germans,  fleeing  from  the  fearful  miser- 


62  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

ies  of  their  native  country  and  arriving  near  London,  were 
thrown,  set  lands  apart  for  them  on  the  Hudson  and  also  in 
Carolina.  The  land-grant  in  the  latter  province  was  on  the 
Congaree  River,  and  was  far  inland.  Settlers  intending  to  go 
there  had  to  land  at  Charleston.  The  historical  records  on 
this  point  are  too  meagre  to  give  us  the  desired  information. 
But  it  is  highly  probable  that  some  immigrants,  arriving  at 
Charleston  and  finding  it  a  town  of  considerable  mercantile 
activity,  concluded  to  remain  there.  Certain  it  is  that  when 
the  first  Salzburgers  on  their  way  to  Savannah  arrived  at 
Charleston  early  in  March,  1734,  they  found  there  some  Ger- 
mans. And  when  in  the  following  May  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Boltzius, 
colleague  of  the  Rev.  J.  Chr.  Gronau  at  Ebenezer,  with  Baron 
von  Reck,  who  had  conducted  the  Salzburgers  to  their  desti- 
nation in  Georgia,  visited  Charleston,  and  held  religious  ser- 
vices there  with  the  German  Lutherans,  and  administered  the 
Lord's  Supper  to  them,  he  in  his  report  mentions  that  among 
their  members  there  were  two  persons,  husband  and  wife,  who 
were  from  the  Palatinate  and  took  part  in  the  celebration. 
It  is  very  probable  that  other  Palatines  preferred  to  remain  at 
Charleston  and  in  its  neighborhood,  the  lands  on  the  Congaree 
being  a  hundred  miles  distant  from  Charleston,  difficult  of 
access,  and  exposed  to  hostilities  from  the  Indians. 

Miihlenberg  tells  us  that  after  landing  at  Charleston  he 
found  two  German  families,  who  were  satisfied  with  their  out- 
ward condition,  but  complained  that  they  were  without  relig- 
ious services  in  their  mother-tongue.  Returning  to  the  ship 
in  the  afternoon,  he  had  no  time  to  inquire  for  other  German 
inhabitants  of  the  town. 

On  the  ship  which  had  brought  him  safely  from  Europe 
Miihlenberg  found  two  negro  slaves.  Here  was  a  new  object 
of  solicitude.  He  entered  into  some  conversation  with  them, 
inquiring  whether  they  had  any  knowledge  of  the  true  God, 
the  Creator  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  of  his  Son  the 
Saviour  of  the  world.  It  pained  him  greatly  that  they  were 
unable  to  answer.  It  seems  to  have  made  a  peculiar  impres- 
sion upon  him  to  meet  so  many  colored  people  at  Charleston. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  63 

He  was  informed  that  in  this  province  tKere  were  fifteen  negroes 
to  one  white  man,  and  that  they  frequently  rebelled  against 
their  owners  and  masters.  He  asks  the  question  whether  it 
would  not  occasion  severe  visitations  because  people  pretend- 
ing to  be  Christians  had  made  their  fellow-creatures  and  shar- 
ers in  Christ's  redemption  slaves,  and  gained  thereby  advan- 
tages without  taking  care  of  their  souls.  Pointedly  he  adds  : 
"JEHfi  tVi^roming-  times  will  show."  He  learned  that  some 
time  before  his  arrival  a  few  English  inhabitants,  awakened 
by  the  preaching  of  the  Rev.  George  Whitefield,  had  under- 
taken to  instruct  some  hundreds  of  their  negroes  in  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  but  that  the  government,  fearing  that  it  might 
conduce  to  awaken  rebellious  feelings  on  the  part  of  the  slaves, 
had  prohibited  it. 

The  captain  of  the  Georgia  packet-ship,  being  bound  by 
contract  to  convey  Miihlenberg  with  the  Salzburgers  to  Sa- 
vannah, and  desirous  of  staying  for  a  few  weeks  with  his  ship 
at  Charleston,  made  on  that  day  an  agreement  with  the  master 
of  a  sloop  to  take  them  and  the  drummer  to  Georgia  through 
the  channels  running  between  the  islands  along  the  shore. 
The  evening  of  the  same  day  Miihlenberg  made  use  of  to 
write  letters  to  various  persons  in  Europe,  among  them  to 
his  "  sorrowing  mother."  The  prospects  were  in  those  times 
that  the  letters,  at  least  after  the  lapse  of  some  months,  would 
reach  their  destination. 

On  Friday,  Sept.  24th,  Muhlenberg  and  his  small  party  took 
farewell  of  the  ship  that  had  carried  them  across  the  Atlantic. 
In  company  with  the  captain  and  the  lawyer  they  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  Georgia  sloop.  The  captain  assisted  them  with 
some  biscuit ;  other  provisions  they  were  obliged  to  procure 
themselves.  That  day  they  sailed  eight  miles.  By  the  down- 
ward turn  of  the  tide  they  were  left  without  sailing  water. 
Muhlenberg  with  the  drummer,  going  on  land  and  breaking 
through  the  woods,  met  with  a  house  and  some  English 
people,  who  at  first  suspected  them  to  be  Spanish  spies,  but, 
soon  learning  that  Muhlenberg  was  a  minister  of  the  gospel, 
rejoiced  in  showing  them  all  possible  kindness. 


64  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

That  Miihlenberg  during  the  few  days  on  board  the  sloop 
did  not  cease  his  pastoral  work  in  his  intercourse  with  those 
around  him  we,  knowing  the  man,  find  very  natural.  There 
was  on  board  an  old  man,  an  English  trader,  who  used  shock- 
ingly profane  and  even  obscene  language.  After  admonition 
had  been  given  to  him  in  a  gentle  way,  and  he  had  been  re- 
minded as  a  man  advanced  in  years  that  he  was  near  the  day 
of  reckoning  for  every  wicked  word  that  fell  from  his  lips,  he 
appeared  to  take  a  serious  turn  of  mind  and  voluntarily  con- 
fessed his  besetting  sins.  But  instead  of  taking  the  advice  to 
flee  for  refuge  to  the  Source  of  all  grace  and  to  beg  forgive- 
ness, he  unfortunately  took  to  the  brandy-bottle  to  drown  the 
trifling  prickings  of  his  conscience.  The  master  of  the  craft 
showed  a  good  understanding  in  spiritual  things  and  a  hum- 
ble heart,  and  put  questions  on  various  things  in  which  he 
was  concerned,  and  was  glad  when  Miihlenberg,  avoiding  use- 
less disputations,  gave  him,  starting  with  John  iii.  1 6,  the  proper 
evangelical  view  of  God's  election. 

Sunday,  Sept.  26th,  Miihlenberg,  going  on  shore,  found  on 
a  plantation  a  number  of  English  people  assembled  to  edify 
themselves  by  the  Word  of  God.  It  seems  that  they  con- 
cluded that  he  was  an  Episcopalian,  and  some  remarks  were 
made  of  a  somewhat  polemical  character.  But  when  he  began 
to  speak  of  Christ  and  of  his  merits  as  the  only  foundation  of 
our  salvation,  and  of  his  holy  life,  which  we,  in  the  exercise 
of  humility,  faith,  love  of  God  and  all  virtues,  are  to  imitate, 
and  when  he  expressed  his  conviction  that  all  heresies  and  all 
disputations  on  points  of  religion  had  their  origin  and  root  in 
the  corrupt  heart  of  the  fallen  children  of  Adam,  they  showed 
themselves  very  kindly  disposed,  said  they  were  Presbyterians, 
and  begged  him  to  explain  to  them  some  gospel  text.  He 
spoke  on  this  occasion  on  Matt.  v.  I,  seq.  They  were  quite 
well  pleased,  placed  fresh  provisions  before  him,  and  accom- 
panied him  to  the  sloop.  His  instruction  to  the  Salzburgers 
he  continued  as  circumstances  permitted,  and  found  special 
occasion  to  give  to  the  parents  some  advice  concerning  the 
education  of  their  children. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  6$ 

He  records  that  during  the  night,  Sept.  28th-29th,  a  high, 
cold  north-west  wind  sprang  up,  and  that  even  ice  was  formed. 
This  occurrence,  most  probably  very  rare  in  that  latitude,  was 
painfully  felt  by  the  travellers,  who  in  the  open  craft  had  to 
lie  down  on  deck  without  the  proper  covering.  But  the  cold 
proved  a  protection  against  the  innumerable  insects,  the  mos- 
quitoes, which  tormented  those  seeking  rest.  Miihlenberg 
says  they  had  day  and  night  to  keep  up  a  fire  to  create 
thereby,  using  suitable  material,  thick  clouds  of  smoke,  with- 
out which  they  could  not  have  lived.  On  Thursday,  Sept. 
30th,  they  arrived  at  the  small  town  of  Beaufort,  on  the  island 
Port  Royal,  the  native  place  of  the  master  of  the  sloop.  Miihl- 
enberg met  with  a  very  kind  reception  at  the  house  of  a  godly 
man,  the  Rev.  Jones,  who  spoke  in  high  terms  of  the  two  pas- 
tors Boltzius  and  Gronau  of  Ebenezer.  He  also  kindly  sent 
bread  and  meat  for  his  guest  and  the  Salzburgers  on  board  of 
the  sloop  which  was  to  take  them  farther,  a  smaller  vessel  than 
the  one  which  had  brought  them  from  Charleston.  Meeting 
during  the  night  with  a  trading  vessel,  the  captain  of  the  same 
invited  them  on  board,  placed  some  refreshments  before  them, 
and  permitted  them  to  sleep  there  a  few  hours.  The  following 
day  they  met  with  a  peculiar  phenomenon,  the  waters  of  the 
sea  appearing  elevated  to  the  height  of  a  steeple:  it  was  prob- 
ably a  waterspout. 

Finally,  on  Saturday,  Oct.  2d,  at  8  P.  ivr.,  they  arrived  at 
Savannah.  This  place  has  for  us  particular  historical  interest. 
George  II.  of  England  (king  1727-60)  June  9,  1732,  had  set 
apart  the  country  between  the  Savannah  River  and  the  Ala- 
tamaha  as  the  province  of  Georgia,  and  given  its  administra- 
tion for  twenty-one  years  into  the  hands  of  trustees  as  a  cor- 
poration, holding  it  "  in  trust  for  the  poor."  Among  these 
trustees,  consisting  of  members  of  Parliament,  inclusive  of 
some  bishops,  as  we  formerly  had  occasion  to  state,  was  James 
Oglethorpe,  whose  name  deserves  to  be  kept  in  grateful  re- 
membrance, since  he  moved  the  Parliament  in  1728  to  take 
into  consideration  the  disastrous  effects  of  the  law  by  which 
"  each  year  in  Great  Britain  at  least  four  thousand  unhappy 


66  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

men  were  immured  in  prison  for  the  misfortune  of  poverty, 
for  a  small  debt  exposed  to  perpetual  imprisonment."  He 
persevered  in  his  philanthropic  efforts  till  "  from  extreme 
misery  he  restored  to  light  and  freedom  multitudes  who  by 
long  confinement  for  debt  were  strangers  and  helpless  in  the 
country  of  their  birth."  And  when  Georgia  was  formally 
opened  to  the  poor  of  all  lands,  even  to  Jews,  "  Papists  "  only 
being  excluded,  and  others  had  given  of  their  wealth,  and  the 
Parliament  had  contributed  ten  thousand  pounds,  Oglethorpe, 
who  had  seen  military  service  and  been  present  at  the  siege 
of  Belgrade  by  the  army  of  the  renowned  Prince  Eugene  of 
Savoy,  assisted  by  the  counsel  and  liberality  of  the  "  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  now 
embarked  (1732)  with  one  hundred  and  twenty  emigrants  for 
America,  landed  first  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  then  at  Beaufort  on 
Port  Royal,  and  chose  the  high  bluff  on  the  Savannah  River 
as  the  site  for  a  new  city.  He  entered  into  friendly  relations 
with  the  Indians,  lived  for  twelve  months  under  a  tent  pro- 
tected by  four  beautiful  pines,  and  then  in  the  city — if  we  may 
use  this  term — in  one  of  those  plain  houses,  all  built  after  the 
same  model,  of  unplaned  boards.  This  man  of  sterling  value 
was  "  the  father  of  Georgia,  and  this  the  place  of  refuge  for 
the  distressed  people  of  Britain  and  the  persecuted  Protestants 
of  Europe."  We  have  already  learned  that  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  a  number  of 
the  cruelly-persecuted  Salzburger  Lutherans  came  (March  18, 
1734)  to  Savannah,  where  Oglethorpe  bade  them  a  friendly 
welcome.  Soon  they  began  with  his  personal  assistance  to 
build  Ebenezer,  twenty-four  miles  west  of  Savannah.  In 
April,  1734,  he  sailed  for  Europe,  won  golden  opinions  for 
his  new  colony,  and  returned  Feb.  6,  1736,  with  three  hundred 
immigrants,  among  whom  were  a  number  of  Moravians,  now 
added  to  the  nine  brethren  in  the  faith  who  had  arrived  already 
in  May,  1735.  Among  his  companions  were  also  John  and 
Charles  Wesley,  the  latter  serving  him  as  his  private  secre- 
tary, well  known  as  the  Methodist  hymnologist.  His  brother 
John,  finding  that  for  making  much  impression  upon  the  In- 


HENRY  ME  LC  HI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  67 

dian  mind,  as  he  had  hoped  to  do  missionary  work  among 
them,  he  and  the  times  were  not  yet  prepared,  returned  in  the 
beginning  of  1738  to  England,  where  a  larger  field  promised 
him  greater  success.  But  his  intercourse  with  the  Moravian 
Brethren  helped  him  to  view  Christianity  apart  from  Puritan 
and  monarchical  principles,  and  made  him  a  more  hearty 
evangelical  Christian.  The  inwardness  and  subjectiveness 
peculiar  to  Pietism  and  the  Methodistic  energetic,  aggressive 
spirit  were  to  some  extent  united  in  him.  Charles  Wesley 
returned  to  England  Jan.  17,  1737,  with  Oglethorpe,  who 
had  to  make  preparations  for  war  with  tlie  Spaniards  possess- 
ing Florida,  since  they  opposed  the  settling  of  the  English  in 
Georgia.  John  Wesley,  after  having  served  his  countrymen 
in  the  new  colony  as  a  pastor,  returned  to  England  in  1738, 
on  the  same  day  on  which  his  great  colaborer,  George  White- 
field,  embarked  the  first  time  for  America.  The  latter  had  it 
in  his  mind  to  establish  an  orphan-house  after  the  Halle  pat- 
tern in  Savannah,  and  expected  to  receive  aid  for  this  char- 
itable object  in  the  mother-country.  Having  gone  in  1739 
to  England  to  collect  the  financial  means  for  his  enterprise, 
after  returning  in  the  same  year  he  laid  the  foundations  of  the 
institution,  which  he  called  Bethesda,  near  Savannah,  but  met 
with  no  success,  and  returned  to  England  in  1741.  On  account 
of  his  rigoristic  predestinarian  views  he  for  a  time  became  alien- 
ated from  the  Wesleys,  but  paid  five  more  visits  to  America,  trav- 
elling as  a  great  revival  preacher  through  the  provinces.  He 
entered  into  his  rest  Sept.  30,  1770,  at  Newbury,  Massachusetts. 
The  Moravians  also  met  with  unexpected  difficulties  in 
Georgia.  It  was  one  of  their  leading  principles  never  to 
carry  weapons  of  war  or  to  engage  in  hostile  combat.  Ex- 
emption from  military  service  had  been  granted  to  them  by 
the  trustees  of  Georgia,  and  when  the  conflict  with  the  Span- 
iards began  was  continued  at  their  request.  But  the  popu- 
lace, being  indignant  at  such  a  privilege,  proved  troublesome 
to  them.  Therefore,  already  in  1738  some  of  them  relin- 
quished the  plantations  they  had  begun  to  cultivate,  paid 
back  all  the  money  with  which  they  had  been  assisted  for 


68  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

travelling  and  the  first  expenses  of  living  in  the  colony, 
moved  to  Pennsylvania,  and  were  followed  to  the  same 
locality  by  the  rest  in  the  spring  of  1740.  In  later  years 
Moravian  emissaries  appear  again  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Savannah  and  the  Salzburg  colony.  German  settlers  we  find 
between  1740  and  1750  at  Frederica,  on  the  island  St.  Simon, 
south  of  Savannah ;  they  had  organized  a  congregation,  and 
Rev.  Driesler  and  Rev.  Ziibly  are  mentioned  as  their  pastors. 
Oglethorpe  returned  in  the  fall  of  1738  to  Georgia  as  a  brig- 
adier-general with  military  command  and  forces.  The  conflict 
between  the  English'  and  the  Spaniards  now  assumed  larger 
proportions,  until,  about  the  middle  of  1743,  the  latter,  having 
suffered  decisive  losses,  retreated  from  the  Georgia  frontiers. 
A  year  later  Oglethorpe  sailed  for  England,  "  never  again  to 
behold  the  colony  to  which  he  consecrated  the  disinterested 
toils  of  ten  years."  During  the  War  of  Independence  he  refused 
to  serve  as  a  commander  against  the  Americans,  with  whose 
cause  he  sympathized,  and  when,  after  the  conclusion  of 
peace,  the  first  ambassador  of  the  United  States  of  America 
arrived  in  London,  he  was  among  those  who  heartily  wel- 
comed him  and  offered  their  congratulations.  He  died  July 
i,  1785,  at  the  age  of  eighty-seven  years. 

We-  may  add  concerning  Georgia  that  the  first  laws  for  the 
government  of  the  province  prohibited  the  importation  of 
slaves.  But  after  a  few  years  the  prohibition  statute  was 
rescinded,  since  several  of  the  so-called  "  better  sort  of  peo- 
ple "  in  Savannah  addressed  a  petition  to  the  trustees  "  for  the 
use  of  negroes."  But  the  Salzburgers  "  deprecated  in  earnest 
memorials  the  employment  of  negro  slaves,  pleading  the 
ability  of  the  white  man  to  toil  under  the  sun  of  Georgia." 
Later,  among  them  and  the  Moravians  the  keeping  of  negro 
slaves  was  tolerated,  on  the  ground  of  their  more  humane 
treatment  and  for  the  purpose  of  Christianizing  them.  Gen- 
eral Oglethorpe,  well  acquainted  with  the  sad  demoraliz- 
ing influences  of  slavery,  entertained  a  plan  of  a  different 
character.  *  He  wanted  the  trustees  to  import  at  their  own 
expense  laborers  from  England  and  Germany  who  might 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  69 

serve  for  a  time,  and  thus  repay  in  wages  the  outlay  of 
their  transportation  and  outfit.  This  plan  the  trustees  never 
adopted. 

After  having  landed,  Oct.  2d,  at  8  A.  M.,  Miihlenberg  paid 
his  respects  to  Colonel  Thomas  Stephens,  a  gentleman  in 
the  service  of  the  trustees  and  the  first  in  authority  at  Sav- 
annah during  the  absence  of  Oglethorpe,  who  at  that  time  had, 
on  account  of  the  troubles  with  the  Spaniards,  gone  south. 
He  proved  himself  at  all  times  a  friend  to  the  Salzburgers, 
and  now  at  once  made  liberal  provision,  not  only  for  Miahlen- 
berg,  but  also  for  the  Salzburger  family  which  had  arrived  with 
Miihlenberg,  and  consisted  of  father,  mother,  and  three  uned- 
ucated girls.  He  had  a  son  of  the  same  name,  from  whom  he 
is  to  be  carefully  distinguished.  This  son,  after  having  spent 
some  time  in  Georgia,  returned  to  England,  and  there  pub- 
lished calumnies  against  the  administration  of  Georgia  by  the 
trustees,  and  especially  against  the  Salzburg  colonists.  His 
accusations  were  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  Parliament. 
The  result  of  an  official  investigation  was  the  complete  refu- 
tation of  his  calumnies.  Wednesday,  July  II,  1742,  he  was 
brought  before  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons,  obliged  to 
kneel  down,  and  was  there  publicly  reprimanded  by  the  Speaker. 
The  Salzburger  colonists,  who  in  these  years  to  a  consider- 
able extent  depended  on  the  good-will  of  benevolent  friends 
in  England  and  in  Germany,  had  reasons  to  be  thankful  for 
this  public  indorsement  of  their  good  character  and  reputa- 
tion. 

The  Rev.  Gronau,  sojourning  at  Savannah  on  that  day,  and 
intending  to  hold  on  the  following  Sunday  divine  service  with 
the  German  settlers  at  Savannah,  hearing  of  the  arrival  of 
Miihlenberg,  at  once  went  to  the  inn  where  Col.  Stephens 
had  meanwhile  lodged  him,  and  took  him  to  the  lodgings 
which  a  patron  of  high  standing  had  placed  at  the  command 
of  the  Ebenezer  pastors  whenever  they  visited  Savannah.  Ser- 
vices had  to  be  held  in  private  houses.  The  finest  and  largest 
building — not,  however,  situated  in  the  town,  but  at  some  dis- 
tance from  it — was  the  Orphan-House,  erected  by  George 


7O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Whitefield,  and  in  the  diary  kept  by  the  Ebenezer  pastors  in 
1742  called  "a  princely  castle."  They  say  that  it  was  unfor- 
tunately situated  in  a  most  sterile  locality,  where  on  five  hun- 
dred acres  of  land,  fenced  in,  subsistence  for  neither  cattle  nor 
horses,  and  not  even  good  drinkable  water,  could  be  found. 
Under  those  circumstances  the  building  and  the  whole  insti- 
tution were  doomed  to  ruin. 

Sunday,  Oct.  3d,  Miihlenberg  heard  two  sermons  preached 
in  the  morning  and  in  the  afternoon  by  the  Rev.  Gronau,  and 
in  the  evening  they  held  service  in  their  own  lodgings.  Both 
of  them  proceeded  on  Monday  morning  on  a  small  boat  toward 
Ebenezer,  meeting,  however,  on  their  way  at  various  places 
with  many  obstacles — trees  uprooted  by  the  storms.  At 
four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  they  arrived  at  the  so-called 
"  Plantations,"  and  viewed  the  flour-mill  erected  there  by  the 
Salzburgers  and  driven  by  water,  the  first  of  its  kind  in  the 
whole  province  of  Georgia.  Thence  they  had  about  an  hour's 
walk  to  Ebenezer. 

When  in  1734  the  first  "transport,"  as  it  was  called,  of  Salz- 
burgers landed  at  Savannah,  they  settled  on  a  locality  some- 
what distant  from  the  Ebenezer  which  Miihlenberg  now  came 
to  visit.  Tn  the  beginning  of  1735  the  second  "transport" 
arrived  and  settled  in  the  same  locality,  as  it  was  ordered  by 
the  trustees.  But  it  was  soon  discovered  that  the  soil  there 
was  very  little  suited  for  agricultural  purposes,  and  that  the 
whole  district  was  very  miasmatic.  The  colonists  suffered 
terribly  from  fevers.  It  became  more  and  more  apparent  that 
without  continued  support  from  the  trustees  they  could  not 
be  sustained  there.  In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1736  they 
were  permitted  to  quit  that  locality  and  to  establish  them- 
selves in  the  neighborhood  of  what  they  called  the  "  Red 
Mount,"  which,  when  compared  with  the  giant  mountains  of 
the  Alps,  of  which  the  Salzburgers  had  a  mournful  remem- 
brance, little  deserved  that  appellation.  And  here  Ebenezer 
began  to  flourish,  though  fevers  and  other  hardships  wqre  not 
wanting  also  in  this  locality.  The  former  settlement  returned 
into  the  hands  of  the  trustees,  and  they  transformed  it  into  a 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  Jl 

stock-farm  to  raise  cattle.  In  Ebenezer  in  the  year  1736  the 
third  "transport"  of  immigrants  was  received.  In  1739  a 
number  of  settlers  began,  with  the  permission  of  Oglethorpe, 
to  cultivate  the  rich  bottom-land  on  the  neighboring  Abricorn 
Creek,  a  locality  afterward  denominated  "  the  Plantations."  In 
1742  a  bridge  was  built  across  the  creek  running  between  the 
"town"  and  the  plantations.  In  December,  1741,  the  fourth 
"  transport "  had  arrived.  Already,  in  the  month  of  February 
of  the  same  year,  the  erection  of  a  regular  church-building, 
at  that  time  the  first  one  in  all  Georgia,  was  undertaken,  and 
its  solemn  dedication  took  place  on  the  seventeenth  Sunday 
after  Trinity.  At  that  time  there  was,  with  the  exception  of 
the  two  Ebenezer  pastors,  no  regularly  appointed  pastor  in 
the  province.  The  Germans — of  whom  some  were  already 
settled  in  Frederica — in  1741  called  a  pastor,  the  Rev.  J.  U. 
Driesler,  from  the  dukedom  of  Wurtemberg,  who,  having 
sailed  from  London  in  Sept.,  1743,  arrived  safely  at  Frederica, 
and  entered  upon  his  labors,  but  died  a  few  years  later.  There 
was  a  sort  of  chaplain  appointed  by  Whitefield  in  behalf  of 
his  orphan-house,  but  he  could  not  be  called  a  regular  pastor. 
The  pastors  of  the  Salzburger  congregation  Ebenezer,  Rev. 
J.  Chr.  Gronau  and  Rev.  J.  M.  Boltzius,  had  been  educated  at 
the  Francke  institution  and  the  University  of  Halle,  had  been 
employed  for  a  time  as  teachers  in  the  Orphan-House  there,  had 
joined  the  first  "transport"  at  Rotterdam,  and  had  not  only 
the  spiritual  care  of  the  Salzburgers  at  Ebenezer,  but  were  the 
general  counsellors  of  them,  and,  by  order  of  the  trustees, 
also  at  the  head  of  the  municipal  administration.  Among 
the  settlers  were  a  number  not  exiles  from  Salzburg.  Gro- 
nau died  Jan.  n,  1745,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  Rev. 
Hermann  Henry  Lembke,  a  graduate  of  Halle  University. 
These  men,  all  of  the  Halle  type  of  Lutheran  Pietism, 
were  faithful  servants  of  the  Lord,  unceasingly  caring  for 
the  temporal  and  spiritual  welfare  of  every  individual  entrust- 
ed to  their  care.  They  also  mediated  between  the  Salzburgers 
and  the  civil  government,  enjoyed  the  high  respect  of  its  rep- 
resentatives and  the  love  and  esteem  of  their  flock,  and  exer- 


72  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

cised  a  strict  congregational  discipline.  It  may  well  be  asked 
whether  without  their  self-denying  labors  Ebenezer  would  ever 
have  been  a  success  or  could  even  have  maintained  itself  in 
any  manner. 

That  the  settlers  in  those  parts  had  to  undergo  not  only 
much  hard  labor,  but  also  many  privations  and  disappoint- 
ments, needs  no  explanation.  The  Indians,  of  whom  there 
were  in  Georgia  and  the  vicinity  various  tribes,  proved  trou- 
blesome at  all  times,  but  especially  when  they  were  at  war 
among  themselves,  or  when,  as  during  the  conflicts  with  the 
Spaniards,  the  government  had  to  indulge  them,  fearing  the 
corrupting  influences  of  the  enemies  in  the  immediate  neigh- 
borhood. Cattle,  horses,  and  swine  were  exposed  to  the  rav- 
ages of  the  wolf  and  the  bear.  Inundations  damaged  the 
newly-cultivated  fields.  Agricultural  implements  and  other 
necessary  mechanical  appliances  were  wanting.  Ploughs  were 
first  introduced  in  1742. 

But  the  energy  and  assiduous  application  of  the  settlers 
conquered  all  difficulties.  Of  course,  assistance  in  various 
ways  coming  from  the  trustees  in  England  and  from  friends 
in  Germany,  at  the  head  of  whom  stood  the  venerable  Url- 
sperger  at  Augsburg,  were  not  only  welcome,  but  in  the  begin- 
ning of  operations  indispensable.  But  the  nerve  and  muscle 
of  the  settlers  had,  under  the  providence  of  God,  to  do  the 
work.  Trees  were  to  be  felled,  lands  to  be  cleared,  fences  to 
be  erected,  houses  to  be  built,  gardens  to  be  cultivated,  and 
the  old  and  the  young  were  as  busy  as  bees.  An  orphan- 
house  was  established,  in  which,  in  January,  1742,  four  boys 
and  eight  girls  were  supported,  and  which  often  was  used 
as  a  refuge  for  sick  single  persons,  who  there  were  properly 
nursed.  To  this  orphan-house  Whitefield — who  was  favor- 
ably inclined  to  the  Salzburgers,  though  they  disliked  very 
much  his  ultra-predestinarian  views  and  his  Methodistic  man- 
ner of  converting  sinners — had  at  one  time  contributed  twenty 
pounds  sterling,  and  in  other  ways  shown  himself  a  warm 
friend.  Provision  was  also  made  for  the  schooling  of  the  chil- 
dren of  the  colony  as  well  as  means  and  circumstances  per- 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHIOR  *  MUHLENBER  G.  73 

mitted,  and  the  pastors  assisted  in  teaching.  To  the  church 
erected  in  the  "  town  "  Whitefield  presented  a  bell  of  eighty 
pounds  weight.  In  the  "  plantations  "  a  separate  church  was 
erected  in  1742. 

It  is  quite  encouraging  to  read  the  reports  the  Salzburgers 
sent  to  old  friends  and  to  benefactors  in  Germany.  J.  G. 
Kocher,  one  of  the  settlers,  who  had  arrived  with  the  fourth 
"transport,"  says  in  a  letter  of  Feb.  I,  1742:  "I  should  be 
sorry  to  live  one  hour  longer  in  Germany,  for  of  the  excellency 
of  this  country  not  the  half  was  told  us.  We  have  here  the 
most  salubrious  air,  the  very  best  water,  all  sorts  of  excellent 
fruits  and  vegetables,  the  very  best  soil,  wherein  I  have  thus 
far  not  met  with  one  stone.  To  every  one  of  us  fifty  acres 
of  land  was  allotted,  also  land  already  prepared  for  giving  a 
harvest  this  year.  Adjoining  my  house  is  my  garden,  where 
I  have  sown  some  wheat  and  planted  various  vegetables,  and 
also  seven  peach  trees,  which  in  this  country  bear  much  sweeter 
fruit  than  in  Germany,  and  are  just  now  literally  covered  with 
blossoms.  I  have  not  the  language  to  depict  all  that  God 
does  for  us  in  these  things,  and  much  more  in  spiritual  things, 
for  we  have  here  two  pastors,  who,  so  to  say,  with  hands, 
words,  and  hearts  bring  us  before  God  and  nearer  to  him." 
This  is  gushing  language,  but  came  from  an  honest  heart. 
Various  attempts  were  made  to  improve  by  new  experimental 
enterprises  the  financial  condition  of  the  settlers.  Among 
these  were  the  planting  of  vineyards  and  the  culture  of  silk, 
also,  at  a  later  period,  that  of  indigo.  Silk  at  first  promised 
to  become  a  staple  product.  A  settler  by  the  name  of  J.  Fr. 
Vigera  of  Salzburg  in  Alsace,  who  had  accompanied  the 
fourth  "  transport "  from  London  across  the  sea  as  a  super- 
visor, and  now  lived  in  Ebenezer,  took  much  pains  to  raise 
silkworms.  A  part  of  the  Orphan-House  was  used  for  this 
purpose.  From  there  fourteen  pounds  and  fourteen  ounces 
of  raw  silk  were  taken  to  Savannah  in  May,  1742,  and  paid 
at  the  storehouse  with  2  pounds  19  shillings  6  pence  ster- 
ling. Bancroft  says  that  "  in  a  few  years  the  produce  of  raw 
silk  by  the  Germans  amounted  to  ten  thousand  pounds  a 


74  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

year,  and  indigo  became  a  staple."  The  very  changeable 
character  of  the  climate  offered,  however,  great  obstacles  to 
the  success  of  silk-culture.  J.  Fr.  Vigera,  who  had  a  com- 
mercial education  and  made  himself  in  various  ways  useful 
to  his  fellow-citizens,  was  a  great  sufferer  by  the  fever,  and 
resolved  in  1743,  in  compliance  with  the-  desire  of  his 
mother,  who  lived  at  his  native  place,  to  return  to  Europe 
by  the  way  of  Pennsylvania;  he  arrived  there,  but  never 
returned  to  Europe.  In  Pennsylvania  we  shall  again  meet 
him. 

That  Miihlenberg  had  received  and  accepted  a  call  to 
the  Lutheran  congregations  in  Pennsylvania  the  brethren 
in  Ebenezer  knew  already  in  May,  1742.  At  a  later  day  they 
were  informed  that  he  would  pay  a  visit  to  .Ebenezer.  We 
know  that  Ziegenhagen  at  London  not  only  desired  Miihlen- 
berg to  visit  the  Salzburg  settlement,  but  expected  Boltzius 
to  accompany  Miihlenberg  to  Pennsylvania  to  assist  him  in 
his  first  missionary  efforts  in  organizing  congregations. 

At  Ebenezer,  Miihlenberg  was  received  in  the  kindest  man- 
ner. After  first  visiting  Gronau's  house,  he  was  lodged  with 
Boltzius.  He  did  not  come  with  empty  hands.  After  hand- 
ing over  to  Boltzius  a  letter  of  Ziegenhagen,  he  delivered  a 
costly  gift  entrusted  to  him  in  Germany,  and  by  him  carefully 
guarded  throughout  his  voyage — viz.  a  chalice  of  solid  silver, 
but  heavily  gilt,  to  be  used  by  the  congregation  at  the  admin- 
istration of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Certainly,  a  welcome  gift, 
coming  from  a  friend  in  Germany,  a  godly  young  man  of 
the  town  of  Nordlingen,  George  Matthias  Kiderlin,  who 
on  his  death-bed  in  October,  1741,  had  ordered  that  out  of 
various  articles  of  silver  in  his  possession  this  cup  should  be 
made  by  an  artist  and  sent  to  Ebenezer.  Now  his  request 
was  fulfilled.  That  cup  is  still  in  the  possession  of  that 
church,  and  from  time  to  time,  in  agreement  with  the  will 
of  the  kind  donor,  used  for  the  sacred  purpose  for  which 
he  had  intended  it. 

When,  a  few  days  later,  the  Salzburger  family  who  had 
crossed  the  Atlantic  with  Miihlenberg  arrived,  they  were 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  f$ 

for  the  present  lodged  in  the  Orphan-House,  and  there  all 
their  necessities  were  attended  to.  Miihlenberg  suffered  dur- 
ing his  stay  at  Ebenezer  with  attacks  of  fever,  and,  according 
to  the  medical  theory  then  prevailing,  was  bled,  and  received 
from  his  colleagues  and  their  families  all  possible  kindness. 
He  visited  all  places  of  particular  interest — the  Orphan-House; 
also,  in  company  with  J.  F.  Vigera,  the  ruins  of  old  Ebenezer. 
He  held,  Oct.  8th,  services  at  the  "  plantations "  and  in  the 
church  in  the  "  town."  In  both  places  the  members  of  the 
congregation  were  informed  of  Ziegenhagen's  proposition, 
that  Boltzius  should  accompany  Miihlenberg  on  his  journey 
to  Pennsylvania,  and  there  for  a  limited  time  assist  him.  We 
learn  that  the  most  intelligent  members  took  a  very  sensible 
view  of  this  plan,  and  though  they  would  be  deprived  for  a 
time  of  the  services  of  a  beloved  pastor,  they  did  not  wish  to 
resist  the  will  of  Providence.  On  Sunday,  Oct.  loth,  the 
Lord's  Supper  was  celebrated,  and  among  the  sixty  guests 
at  the  sacred  table  was  Miihlenberg.  At  the  conclusion 
of  the  last  service  of  the  day  Boltzius  addressed  words  of 
admonition  and  farewell  to  the  congregation,  and  in  his 
prayer  laid  the  intended  departure  of  Miihlenberg  and  him- 
self before  the  throne  of  grace.  There  was  much  feeling 
among  the  assembly,  and  it  was  very  apparent  that  the 
strongest  ties  of  love  and  esteem  bound  the  preacher  to  the 
people  whose  spiritual  welfare,  with  other  interests,  was  en- 
trusted to  his  care.  It  was  equally  observable  that  Miihlen- 
berg had  during  the  days  of  his  sojourn  among  the  Salzburg- 
ers  greatly  endeared  himself  to  them  and  to  their  pastors. 


76  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 


CHAPTER    VI. 

1742  (continued}.  • 

Benefit  derived  from  the  visit  at  Ebenezer. — Boltzius  accompanies  Miihlenberg  to 
Charleston. — They  hold  religious  services  in  their  lodgings — Visitors  from 
Purrysburg — Boltzius  returns  to  Ebenezer. — Miihlenberg  reads  reports  of 
Count  Zinzendorf  in  Pennsylvania. — He  is  a  guest  of  Mr.  Theus. — Holds 
religious  services  with  the  Germans  at  Charleston. — Departure  for  Philadel- 
phia.— Incidents  and  hardships  of  the  voyage. 

THERE  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  visit  at  Ebenezer, 
though  it  was  a  short  one,  was  of  service  to  Miihlen- 
berg in  various  and  important  ways.  Here  he  moved  the 
first  time  among  a  German-American  congregation,  cut  loose 
from  state  influences  and  from  control  by  the  secular  author- 
ities in  its  inner  life  and  management,  governing  itself 
under  the  guidance  of  two  worthy  pastors — men  of  fervid 
devotion  to  their  office  and  of  excellent  Christian  character. 
With  them  Miihlenberg,  coming  from  the  same  school  of 
piety  and  theology,  viewing  Christian  life  and  the  relation 
existing  between  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  the  world  sur- 
rounding it  essentially  as  they  did,  could  fully  sympathize ; 
and  they,  having  already  gathered  the  experience  of  years, 
could  point  out  to  him  many  difficulties  to  be  expected  and 
ways  and  means  to  avoid  or  to  meet  them.  His  intercourse 
with  them  could  not  but  be  profitable,  instructive,  and  en- 
couraging to  him,  and  to  some  extent  better  prepare  him  for 
the  task  awaiting  him  in  Pennsylvania.  True  it  is  that 
the  "  Salzburgers  "  offered  a  type  of  a  congregation  not  fre- 
quently met  with.  But  since  they  were  no  longer  an  ecclesia 
pressa,  an  oppressed,  persecuted  flock,  their  spiritual  condition, 
as  may  be  expected,  had  incurred  many  and  great  dangers. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  77 

Changes  of  outward  circumstances  are  always  a  trial  to  the  innl^ 
man.  The  Ebenezer  pastors  had  ample  opportunity  to  expe- 
rience this  in  the  fulfilment  of  their  duties.  To  this  must  be 
added  what  we  formerly  alluded  to,  that  the  name  "  Salz- 
burgers,"  as  it  is  commonly  used,  included  even  at  that  time  a 
considerable  number  of  such  characters  as  could  neither  geo- 
graphically nor  historically,  nor  in  other  respects,  lay  claim  to 
it,  but  had  settled  at  Ebenezer  and  become  members  of  the 
Salzburger  congregation.  From  the  conditions  under  which 
congregations  in  America  usually  exist  Ebenezer  was  totally 
exempt,  in  so  far  as  there  no  other  denomination  was  in  any 
official  way  represented.  Ebenezer  knew  at  least  in  those 
years  no  other  creed  and  no  other  service  than  the  Lutheran. 
Monday,  Oct.  I  ith,  was  the  day  appointed  for  the  departure 
of  Miihlenberg  and  Boltzius.  A  goodly  number  of  hours  had 
passed  before  all  had  been  said  and  arranged,  when,  in  the 
presence  of  a  large  number  of  friends  assembled  on  the  mem- 
orable occasion,  Boltzius  conclujded  with  prayer.  Quite  a 
large  company  went  with  the  two  departing  friends  from 
Ebenezer  to  the  river,  where  the  last  words  of  farewell  were 
exchanged  under  considerable  commotion  of  heart  and  feel- 
ings. When  they  entered  the  boat  which  was  to  convey  them 
to  Savannah,  Miihlenberg,  whose  melodious  voice  and  fine 
musical  taste  served  him  excellently  on  many  occasions  of 
his  life,  struck  up,  all  the  company  present  at  once  joining 
him,  the  last  verse  of  a  well-known  German  hymn  admirably 
suited  to  the  circumstances  of  the  hour,  and  expressing  the 
sentiment  that  we  Christians  must  follow  our  Lord  and  ac- 
knowledge him  as  our  Captain  even  in  times  of  trial,  knowing 
that  without  the  cross  there  is  no  crown.  Little  did  Muhlen- 
berg  think  that  more  than  thirty  years  later  he  would  once 
again  stand  on  that  very  shore,  return  to  Ebenezer,  there  to 
meet  a  few  who  would  remember  his  first  visit.  Of  that  first 
visit  the  Rev.  Gronau  speaks  in  his  diary  in  the  following 
manner :  "  I  hope  the  Lord  will  reunite  and  once  more  bless 
us.  A  more  blessed  season  we  never  had  at  Ebenezer,  for 
such  special  benefit  he  never  before  granted  us,  to  lead  to  us 


78  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

tffce  of  the  dear  friends  in  Germany — one  who  had  loved  us 
in  spirit  before  he  personally  knew  us,  and  whom  we  now  can 
regard  and  esteem  as  a  true  friend  and  brother  in  Christ.  I 
do  trust  that  still  closer  ties  will  connect  us.  God  in  his 
mercy  will  help  that  through  the  preaching  of  the  gospel 
many  in  Pennsylvania  will  be  gathered,  with  whom  we  may 
be  of  one  heart  and  one  mind."  Miihlenberg  in  his  diary  does 
full  justice  to  the  two  brethren  Boltzius  and  Gronau,  and  to 
their  people,  especially  to  their  self-denying  spirit  and  good- 
will toward  him  in  permitting  Boltzius  to  accompany  him  to 
Pennsylvania.  He  mentions  especially  that  Boltzius  had  to 
expect  on  this  journey  many  hardships  and  many  dangers, 
owing  to  the  approach  of  the  winter  and  to  the  war,  at  that 
time  making  the  sea  and  the  coast  unsafe ;  that  he  left  at  home 
a  wife  who  was  in  a  frail  condition  and  two  sick  children,  and 
that  he  did  not  know  whether  he  would  be  able  to  return 
before  the  following  spring  or  summer,  since  the  Delaware 
River  during  winter  was  oft^n  frozen  many  miles  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Philadelphia.  These  and  other  weighty  consider- 
ations Miihlenberg  mentions,  showing  that  he  fully  appreciated 
the  kind  service  Boltzius  was  doing  him.  He  deeply  felt  that  to 
leave  a  congregation  for  such  a  length  of  time  was,  under  all 
circumstances,  fraught  with  danger,  while  it  was  exceedingly 
uncertain  what  success  they  might  meet  with  in  Pennsylvania. 
He  says  that  he  prayed  God  more  clearly  to  reveal  to  them 
whether  it  were  his  will  that  Boltzius  should  go  with  him  to 
Pennsylvania  or  not,  even  if  the  brother  should  have  to  return 
when  but  a  portion  of  the  voyage  had  been  completed.  These 
and  other  similar  sentiments  moved  the  heart  of  Muhlenberg 
when  he,  Boltzius,  and  another  companion,  during  a  quiet  and 
bright  night,  glided  in  their  boat  down  the  waters  of  the  river 
to  Savannah,  where  they  arrived  early  on  Tuesday,  October 
1 2th.  Of  the  farewell  taken  at  Ebenezer,  Muhlenberg  says 
that  it  was  a  picture  en  miniature  of  a  blessed  departure  from 
this  world. 

At  Savannah  the  travellers  were  detained  "by  unfavorable 
winds  until  Friday  evening,  Oct.  I5th.     Various  attempts  to 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  79 

set  sail  were  futile.  Here  already  the  impression  was  made 
upon  Miihlenberg  that  it  was  perhaps  not  the  will  of  God  that 
Brother  Boltzius  should  accompany  him  on  this  voyage.  The 
same  boat  which  had  brought  them  down  from  Ebenezer  was 
to  take  them  to  Charleston.  Boltzius  had  for  this  purpose 
employed  the  services  of  a  steersman  and  of  rowers.  A  check 
in  the  possession  of  Miihlenberg  could  not  be  converted  into 
money  in  Savannah;  trade  the  merchants  were  willing  to  give 
for  it. 

Our  travellers  were  happy,  after  leaving  Savannah,  to  find 
without  any  further  trouble  one  of  the  channels  running  be- 
tween the  coast  and  the  numerous  islands  of  that  region. 
Sailing  day  and  night  with  as  little  delay  as  possible,  they 
arrived,  Wednesday,  Oct.  2Oth,  at  Charleston,  where  a  part 
of  the  English  fleet  under  Admiral  Vernon,  which  upon  the 
news  of  the  attack  of  the  Spaniards  upon  Georgia  had  speedily 
sailed  thither,  was  at  anchor.  All  the  inns  at  Charleston  were 
occupied  by  the  soldiers.  Miihlenberg  and  Boltzms  consid- 
ered it  a  favor  that  a  female  German  innkeeper  took  them  in, 
wishing  to  take  advantage  of  them,  but  being  satisfied  with 
two  shillings  sixpence  sterling  per  head  a  day.  They,  on 
their  part,  held  daily  morning  and  evening  religious  services, 
in  which  some  Germans  participated  who  had  come  from 
Purrysburg,  a  colony  of  Swiss  people  situated  on  the  east  side 
of  the  Savannah  River,  some  thirty  miles  from  the  sea,  and 
consequently  only  a  few  miles  distant  from  Ebenezer.  Encour- 
aged by  the  promises  of  the  English  government,  which  for 
every  one  hundred  effective  men  who  would  settle  there  agreed 
to  pay  four  hundred  pounds  sterling  and  to  give  to  them  a 
gratuity  of  land,  John  Peter  Purry  of  Neufchatel,  Switzerland, 
invited  his  countrymen,  by  sending  most  charming  descrip- 
tions of  the  soil,  climate,  and  government  of  South  Carolina, 
to  this  province,  and  in  November,  1732,  one  hundred  and 
seventy  of  them  arrived  at  Charleston,  who  not  long  after- 
ward were  followed  by  two  hundred  more.  Forty  thousand 
acres  of  land  were  allotted  to  the  new  colony  of  Purrysburg, 
the  Indians  having  been  driven  off  from  that  region.  The 


8O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

town  was  situated  on  the  somewhat  elevated  banks  of  the 
river,  and  for  a  time  promised  desirable  progress.  The  col- 
onists had  brought  with  them  a  pastor,  Rev.  Joseph  Bu- 
gnion,  who  during  his  sojourn  in  England  received  episcopal 
ordination,  had  begun  work  at  the  colony,  but  had  left  it 
in  1735.  There  were  some  Lutheran  families  among  the 
colonists,  who  connected  themselves  with  the  Ebenezer  con- 
gregation, and  were  occasionally  visited  by  their  pastors. 
Going  in  1734  to  Charleston,  Boltzius,  taking  his  tour  through 
Purrysburg,  was  very  kindly  received  there,  and  testifies  to 
the  agricultural  progress  the  colony  had  made  during  the 
two  years  of  its  existence.  But  it  seems  that  by  and  by  the 
inhabitants  lost  courage,  and  that  a  lack  of  strict  social  order 
was  observable.  Already  before  the  War  of  Independence 
the  colony  was  greatly  reduced,  and  after  many  of  the  settlers 
had  removed  to  other  parts  of  the  Carolinas  came  to  an  inglo- 
rious end. 

The  prospects  of  finding  an  opportunity  of  going  by  sea  or 
land  to  Philadelphia  were  rather  discouraging.  The  most 
experienced  men  said  that  it  was  too  late  in  the  season,  and 
that  the  Delaware  River  would,  on  account  of  the  ice,  not  be 
navigable.  To  go  by  land  a  distance  of  about  nine  hundred 
miles  through  a  country  without  roads  and  bridges,  through 
a  wilderness  and  swamps,  and  to  buy  for  such  an  undertaking 
horses  of  the  needful  strength  and  endurance,  was  not  advis- 
able. Indeed,  the  two  brethren,  Miihlenberg  and  Boltzius, 
were  in  perplexing  circumstances.  With  money  they  were 
not  superabundantly  supplied,  and  every  day  helped  to  reduce 
the  purse.  Yet  when,  on  Friday,  Oct.  22d,  the  Ebenezer  boat 
set  sail  to  return,  Boltzius  could  not  make  up  his  mind  to 
leave  Muhlenberg.  But  on  the  following  day  they  resolved, 
after  prayerful  consideration,  that  Boltzius  should  no  longer 
remain  in  this  painful  uncertainty,  but  return  to  his  wonted 
field  of  labor.  Muhlenberg  was  willing  to  wait  a  few  weeks 
longer  for  an  opportunity  to  reach  Pennsylvania.  If  none 
would  offer,  he  intended  to  return  to  Savamiah,  and  thence 
to  proceed  to  Frederica,  there  to  serve  the  Germans  in  spirit- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  8 1 

ual  matters  until  he  could  reach  Philadelphia  in  the  following 
spring.* 

Boltzius,  having  bought  a  horse  on  the  previous  day,  on 
Oct.  24th  bade  an  affecting  farewell,  and,  taking  the  route  by 
land,  departed  for  Ebenezer.  Miihlenberg  was  now  left  to  him- 
self, a  stranger,  at  Charleston.  In  the  evening  of  that  same 
day  his  thoughts  were  forcibly  directed  toward  Pennsylvania. 
Accidentally  two  documents  fell  into  his  hands  which  called 
forth  his  serious  attention.  One  was  a  printed  report  of  seven 
conferences  which  Count  Zinzendorf,  under  the  pseudonym 
"  Herr  von  Thiirnstein,"  had  held  with  his  brethren  in  Penn- 
sylvania, especially  at  Germantqwn,  Philadelphia,  and  New 
Hanover.  The  other  was  a  pamphlet  giving  an  account  of  a 
disturbance  which  had  taken  place,  July  i8th  of  that  year, 
between  the  Moravians  on  the  one  hand  and  the  German  Re- 
formed and  the  Lutherans  on  the  other,  at  Philadelphia  in 
front  of  an  "  old  butcher-shop."  As  we  shall  have  an  occa- 
sion to  hear  more  of  this,  we  do  not  now  enter  upon  the  cir- 
cumstances to  which  that  publication  referred,  but  simply  add 
the  remark  Miihlenberg  here  makes  in  his  diary :  "  Such 
gourds  of  wild  vines  enabled  me  to  see  from  afar  death  in  the 
pot  (2  Kings  iv.  39,  40),  and  to  realize  the  serious  nature  of 
my  call  thither." 

On  the  following  day  a  Swiss  painter,  Theus,  moved  by 
Christian  charity,  invited  Miihlenberg  to  his  house  and  pro- 
vided for  him.  About  that  time  an  Englishman  who  intended 
to  take  the  land-route  to  Pennsylvania  arrived,  and  would 
have  been  glad  to  have  had  a  companion,  but  honestly  advised 
Miihlenberg  not  to  undertake  that  expensive  and  very  labor- 
ious journey.  Miihlenberg  was  obliged  to  wait  for  further 
opportunity,  but  made,  however,  very  good  use  of  his  time 
by  giving  instruction  to  some  children.  He  also  wrote  letters 
to  Ebenezer  and  to  various  individuals  in  Europe,  continued 

*  Muhlenberg  in  his  diary  refers  here  to  a  report  of  the  death  of  the  Rev.  J.  U. 
Driesler  at  Frederica.     There  must  be  a  mistake  in  this  matter,  since  Driesler  did  • 
not  arrive  at  Frederica -before  the  year  1744,  and  died  there  at  the  end  of  1746  or 
in  the  beginning  of  1747,  as  appears  from  a  letter  of  Ziegenhagen  of  London,  dated 
May  24,  1747. 


82  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

his  diary,  and  on  Sunday,  Oct.  3 1st,  the  memorial  day  of  the 
Reformation,  he  twice  held  service  in  the  German  language  in 
his  lodgings,  and,  seeing  that  English-speaking  people  also 
were  desirous  of  his  attention,  repeated  the  substance  of  his 
sermon  in  English.  He  again  preached  twice  on  the  follow- 
ing Sunday.  He  was  moved  by  pity  for  the  Germans,  who 
there  appeared  to  him  like  sheep  gone  astray,  every  one  turn- 
ing to  his  own  way  (Isa.  liii.  6).  There  is  a  vague  report  that 
in  1752  the  first  pastor  of  the  Lutherans,  Rev.  Mr.  Luft, 
arrived  at  Charleston.  We  know,  however,  that  about  the 
year  1755  or  1756,  Rev.  John  George  Friederichs  arrived  at 
Charleston  and  gathered  the  Germans  into  a  congregation, 
and  that  "in  1759  they  began  to  build  a  house  of  worship 
themselves,"  having  before  this  been  hospitably  treated  by 
the  French  (Huguenots)  and  permitted  to  worship  in  their 
sanctuary. 

Hearing,  Nov.  1st,  that  a  sloop  carrying  one  mast  had 
arrived  from  Philadelphia,  and  would  return  in  a  few  days, 
Miihlenberg  at  once  inquired  about  it,  but  was  strongly  ad- 
vised not  to  sail  on  that  frail  vessel  in  such  a  boisterous 
season  of  the  year  and  when  there  was  so  much  fear  of 
Spanish  privateers.  Downcast  in  spirit,  he  went  to  his  lodg- 
ings, retired  into  solitude,  and  humbled  himself  in  fervent 
prayer  before  the  throne  of  grace,  and,  considering  that  he 
was  intended  not  for  Charleston  or  Frederica,  but  for  Penn- 
sylvania, remembered  the  saying  of  that  East  India  missionary, 
Zeglin :  "  Shall  death  be  my  lot,  here  I  am,  my  God.  Is  it 
thy  will  that  I  should  live,  into  thy  hands  I  give  my  soul." 
On  the  following  day  he  went  to  Captain  Child  of  the  Phila- 
delphia sloop,  and  though  told  by  him  that  he  was  unable 
on  his  small  craft  to  offer  the  slightest  comforts,  that  there 
was  only  one  cabin,  just  sufficient  for  himself  to  creep  into, 
and  it  was  out  of  his  power  to  accommodate  him  in  any  other 
way,  Miihlenberg  paid  at  once  three  guineas  for  the  passage, 
bought  for  four  guineas  a  bed  and  provisions,  and  received 
orders  to  be  on  board  on  the  I2th  of  November.  On  that 
day  he  took  farewell  of  his  host,  who  had  shown  him  much 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  83 

kindness,  and  embarked  in  the  sloop,  which  set  sail,  and,  the 
wind  being  contrary,  anchored  in  the  evening  opposite  the 
fort. 

Among  the  nine  persons  on  board  of  the  sloop  was  an 
English  gentleman  who  urged  Miihlenberg  to  visit  with  him 
the  fort,  the  commander  of  which  politely  invited  them  to 
supper.  And  here  we  take  pleasure  in  recording  an  incident 
which  is  calculated  to  give  us  an  insight  into  the  amiable 
character  of  Miihlenberg.  During  the  supper  the  sound  of 
a  well-known  German  church-melody  reached  his  ear  from  a 
distance.  To  his  inquiry  about  it  the  commander  answered 
that  some  time  before  he  had  bought  a  number  of  German  ser- 
vants from  the  ship  which  had  brought  them  over — that  now 
they  were  serving  him  for  a  number  of  years,  and  were  em- 
ployed as  "  constables  "  and  for  work  in  the  house  and  on  the 
farm.  He  formerly  had  done  military  services  in  the  Neth- 
erlands, felt  a  love  for  the  Germans,  and  had  learned  many 
words  of  their  language.  These  servants,  he  said,  had  at  first 
often  quarreled  among  themselves,  and  used  rather  rough  and 
profane  language.  After  having  been  reprimanded  by  him 
they  lived  harmoniously  together,  sang  and  prayed,  and 
proved  obedient  and  faithful  in  service.  He  intended  here- 
after to  allot  to  each  of  them  a  piece  of  land,  provided  they 
would  remain  faithful  to  the  end  of  the  time  of  their  engagement. 
Miihlenberg  continues  in  his  diary:  "I  forgot  the  supper  and 
begged  permission  to  see  those  Germans.  A  servant,  carry- 
ing a  lantern,  led  me  down  into  a  vaulted  room,  where  I 
found  twenty-three  men  sitting  in  a  circle,  with  their  heads 
uncovered,  their  hands  folded.  As  soon  as  they  learned  that 
I  was  a  German  preacher  of  the  gospel  they  leaped  up ;  one, 
two,  or  three  at  a  time  as  they  were  able,  embraced  me,  cried 
for  joy,  and  begged  me  to  stay  with  them,  or,  if  this  were  im- 
possible, at  least  to  give  them  a  word  of  comfort.  I  answered 
that  to  stay  with  them  was  impossible,  but  since  they  were 
twenty-three  I  would  explain  to  them  the  twenty-third  Psalm, 
pray  with  them,  and,  if  they  would  send  one  of  their  number 
with  me  to  the  sloop,  I  wrould  leave  with  them  a  book  as  a 


84  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

remembrance  and  for  their  edification.  After  having  briefly 
explained  to  them  the  twenty-third  Psalm  and  prayed  with 
them,  I  took  an  affecting  farewell,  and  once  more  recom- 
mended them  to  their  one  Lord  and  Master,  who  had 
bought  them  with  his  blood,  beseeching  for  them  the  effi- 
cacious influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  On  my  return  to  the 
commander  I  thanked  him  for  his  kindness,  recommended  the 
German  servants  to  his  kind  protection,  took  with  me  on  my 
return  to  the  sloop  one  of  these  Germans,  and  as  a  remem- 
brance sent  to  them  the  sermons  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Schubert 
on  the  Sunday  Gospels,  giving  them  written  advice  on  the 
front  page  how  they  might  use  the  book  for  the  edification 
of  their  souls."  What  a  warm  sympathy  and  interest  for  the 
welfare  of  his  countrymen,  what  a  missionary  spirit,  is  here 
exhibited ! 

After  the  sloop  had  entered  upon  the  high  seas  the  voyage 
became  exceedingly  rough.  The  small  craft  was  terribly 
tossed  up  and  down  by  the  waves.  Such  sailing  Miihlen- 
berg  had  never  experienced.  Sea-sickness  occasioned  him 
the  greatest  discomfort.  The  winds  were  violent  and  chill- 
ing. There  were  some  among  the  crew  who  had  just  been 
released  from  captivity  by  the  Spaniards.  Their  profane  lan- 
guage made  Miihlenberg's  hair  stand  on  end,  but  his  admoni- 
tions, given  as  long  as  he  was  able  to  do  so,  were  of  no  avail. 
On  Nov.  1 6th  the  storm  became  more  violent  and  the  rain 
poured  down  in  torrents.  The  sloop,  being  open  on  all  sides, 
in  going  up  and  down  on  the  waves  shipped  and  unshipped 
large  quantities  of  water.  To  protect  himself  against  the  cold, 
Miihlenberg  put  on  all  his  clothing  available  for  this  purpose 
and  laid  himself  down  in  the  cabin,  where  the  captain  had 
allowed  him  to  repose.  He  was  finally  exhausted  by  sea- 
sickness, too  weak  to  rise  and  unable  to  eat  or  to  drink.  In 
the  night  the  men  who  had  been  prisoners  of  war,  cold  and 
wet  as  they  were,  pressed  into  the  cabin,  laid  themselves  down 
to  save  their  lives  around  and  even  upon  him  "  like  herrings/' 
while  he  willingly  excused  them  and  only  wished  that  they 
would  cease  cursing  and  swearing.  On  the  following  days, 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  85 

he  says,  the  sloop  seemed  to  be  more  below  than  above  the 
water,  so  that  every  garment  was  made  soaking  wet.  To 
Miihlenberg's  petition  to  be  put  ashore  the  captain  gave  no 
ear.  In  addition  to  all  this  terrible  misery  the  vermin  were 
under  these  circumstances  particularly  troublesome.  The 
very  thought  that  the  sloop  would  go  to  the  bottom  of  the 
sea  had,  under  such  distress,  an  element  of  comfort  and 
relief  for  Miihlenberg. 

However,  there  is  an  end  to  all  misery  on  earth.  On  Nov. 
1 9th  the  storm  abated  and  the  sun  sent  forth  its  welcome 
rays.  Miihlenberg  was  able  to  relish  a  cup  of  coffee  and  sit 
up  in  bed,  which  gave  joy  to  the  captain.  Saturday,  Nov. 
2Oth,  they  saw  the  "  promontory  of  Pennsylvania,"  to  which 
province  at  that  time  the  parts  now  forming  the  State  of  Del- 
aware belonged.  In  the  evening  the  anchor  was  cast  near 
Lewestown.  On  Sunday,  Nov.  2i-st,  Miihlenberg,  at  the 
request  of  the  captain  and  his  other  companions,  addressed 
them,  sitting  on  his  bed,  since  he  was  too  weak  to  stand,  on 
the  first  part  of  Matt.  v.  On  the  two  following  days  he  was 
by  degrees  able  to  rise.  The  provisions  which  he  bought  at 
Charleston,  and  some  of  his  under-clothing,  he  distributed 
among  the  poor  suffering  sailors. 

And  now  we  see  that  sloop  to  which  the  life  of  the  future 
patriarch  of  the  Lutheran  Church  of  America  had  been  en- 
trusted, and  which  in  spite  of  storms,  billows,  and  Spanish 
privateers  had,  under  God's  providence,  brought  him  safely 
hither,  quietly  sailing  up  the  Delaware  Bay  and  River.  There 
Miihlenberg's  eye  rested  on  the  level  shores  of  New  Jersey, 
continually  approaching  nearer,  and  on  the  wooded  hills  of 
the  western  shore,  here  and  there  dotted  with  houses  and  the 
smoke  of  many  a  fireplace  curling  up  into  the  air.  All  was 
quiet  and  serene.  Our  traveller's  heart,  soon  forgetting  the 
fearful  trials,  dangers,  and  miseries  of  the  past  days,  rejoiced 
in  the  goodness  of  God,  who  had  brought  him  hither,  and  in 
whom  he  trusted  for  the  future,  not  knowing  what  it  might 
bring  forth.  He  now  passed  here  and  there  farms  and  dwell- 
ings of  Swedish  Lutheran  settlers,  and,  coming  nearer  to  Phil- 


86  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

adelphia,  Tinicum  Island,  on  which,  just  about  one  .hundred 
years  before,  the  first  Lutheran  house  of  worship  in  the  New 
World  had  been  erected. 

Thursday,  Nov.  25,  1742,  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning, 
the  sloop  arrived  at  its  place  of  destination.  Miihlenberg  set 
his  foot  the  first  time  upon  the  field  of  labor  to  which  he  was 
providentially  called.  There  Philadelphia  stretched  out  on 
the  high  shores  of  the  noble  river,  opposite  an  island  which 
divided  the  sheet  of  water,  a  mile  in  width.  There  were  not 
many  stately  buildings  to  be  seen,  no  tall  church-towers  rising 
in  the  air,  no  paved  streets,  no  monuments  telling  of  bygone 
days  and  men.  Everything  had  a  plain,  Quakerish  appear- 
ance, with  ample  room  for  a  large  city  in  the  future.  But  it 
was  a  busy  place.  And  now  one  had  arrived  who  in  all  this 
traffic,  in  all  the  gains  and  losses,  hopes  and  fears  which 
moved  many  a  heart,  had  no  interest,  but  whose  mission  it 
was  to  care  for  the  immortal  souls  of  his  brethren  in  the  faith. 
And  to  him  also  Philadelphia  proved  in  years  to  come  a  busy 
place.  With  true  "  brotherly  love  "  in  his  heart,  he  was  fully 
prepared  for  the  task  awaiting  him. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  8/ 


CHAPTER    VII. 

1742  (continued}. 

Miihlenberg's  fitness  for  his  life-work. — His  mental  frame  and  physical  condition. 
— Peculiar  character  of  his  field  of  labor. — Political  condition  of  Pennsylvania 
since  the  times  of  William  Penn.  —German  settlers  near  and  in  Philadelphia. 
— Political  influence  of  the  Quakers. — Mixed  population  of  Pennsylvania. — 
Count  von  Thiirnstein. — Val.  Kraft  and  the  German  Lutheran  congregation 
at  Philadelphia. — Muhlenberg  sets  out  for  New  Hanover. — Preaches  there, 
and  presents  his  pastoral  call. — Preaches  at  New  Providence  (Trappe). — 
Meets  Val.  Kraft  at  Philadelphia. — Preaches  there. — Peter  Kock. — Henry 
Schleydorn. — Muhlenberg  acknowledged  as  the  legitimate  pastor  at  New 
Hanover,  New  Providence,  a*nd  Philadelphia. — Rev.  Pet.  Tranberg. 

AT  the  time  (Nov.  25,  1742)  when  H.  M.  Muhlenberg 
arrived  at  Philadelphia  he  had  just  ended  the  thirty- 
first  year  of  his  age,  and,  though  suffering  from  the  conse- 
quences of  the  terrible  sea- voyage  from  Charleston  to  Pennsyl- 
vania, was  in  the  prime  of  life  and  vigor  of  health.  We  shall 
have  ample  opportunity  to  see  that,  next  to  a  good  Christian 
heart,  a  clear,  practical  head,  and  an  energetic  will,  he  needed 
a  very  robust  bodily  constitution  and  an  unusual  amount  of 
vitality  to  enable  him  to  undergo  all  the  risks  of  health  and 
life  to  which  he  was  exposed  and  to  satisfy  the  heavy  claims 
made  upon  him  in  his  sphere  of  missionary  work.  And  a 
missionary  he  had  to  be,  and  he  was,  in  the  full  sense  of 
the  term.  For  this  peculiar  office  in  the  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth  he  was  eminently  well  qualified,  not  only  by  the  sin- 
cere and  warm  piety  of  his  heart,  by  his  exemplary  walk  and 
conversation,  by  his  general  education  and  his  theological 
attainments,  and  by  his  remarkable  talent  as  a  linguist  and 
as  a  public  speaker,  but  by  the  whole  composition  of  his 
mental  framework.  There  was  a  certain  magnetism  about 


88  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

him  which  everywhere  won  for  him  the  good-will  and 
attachment  of  right-minded  people.  He  could  easily  enter 
into  the  feelings  and  ways  of  thinking  of  individuals  of  all 
grades  of  society.  While  he  was  humble  in  his  bearing 
and  perfectly  gentlemanly  in  his  intercourse  with  others,  he 
never  flattered,  and  never  forgot  or  allowed  others  to  forget 
his  official  character  or  his  personal  dignity.  He  felt  keenly 
ingratitude  and  malignity  on  the  part  of  those  to  whom  he 
had  been  a  benefactor,  but  the  most  harassing  experience  of 
this  kind  never  soured  his  unselfish,  charitable  disposition. 
With  his  uncommon  common  sense  and  his  penetrating 
insight  into  all  sorts  of  characters  there  was  united  a  certain 
humorous  element  calculated  to  protect  him  from  pessimistic 
views  of  men  and  life,  to  which  many  severe  trials  and  expe- 
riences in  this  New  World  might  otherwise  have  led  him. 
Cheerfully  he  underwent  the  heaviest  tasks,  never  losing 
courage  and  never  getting  tired.  Day  after  day  he  walked 
before  God,  and  his  strong  and  child-like  faith  in  a  providen- 
tia  specialissima  supported  him.  He  reaped  from  his  Chris- 
tian convictions  throughout  all  vicissitudes  of  life,  in  the 
exercise  of  his  arduous  duties,  the  richest  harvest. 

As  to  his  external  appearance,  we  know  that  he  was  of  a 
robust  frame,  medium  height,  broad-shouldered — when  in  a 
standing  attitude,  at  least  in  advanced  years,  slightly  inclined 
forward.  In  his  face  we  observe  a  certain  openness,  a  pleas- 
ant smile,  not  without  the  traces  of  wit  and  humor,  while 
his  forehead  indicates  no  less  than  his  eyes  that  happy  com- 
mon sense  which,  blended  with  his  kindness  and  energy, 
could  not  fail  to  put  him  in  the  front  rank  of  those  with 
whom  he  came  into  contact,  and  enabled  him  to  master  the 
situations  in  which  he  was  placed.  Thus  pictures  which 
have  come  down  to  our  times  present  him  to  us.  All  depict 
him  in  the  clerical  attire,  which,  added  to  the  well-fashioned 
wig,  according  to  the  style  of  those  times  encircling  his  head 
as  a  terrestrial  halo,  gives  to  the  face  a  dignified  and  reverential 
character.  We  are  told  that  his  voice,  a  tenor,  was  very 
melodious  and  had  a  clear  ring.  That  he  made  very  good 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  89 

use  of  it  and  of  'his  musical  attainments  in  his  home-life  and 
official  activity,  many  incidents  on  record  bear  witness.  When 
Miihlenberg  arrived  in  Pennsylvania,  henceforth  the  chief 
field  of  his  labors,  he  was  experienced  enough  under  all 
circumstances  to  assert  his  manhood  and  to  exercise  an 
independent  judgment,  and  young  enough  to  adapt  him- 
self to  totally  new  circumstances  and  a  state  of  society  the 
very  opposite  to  that  to  which  he  was  accustomed  in  his 
native  country.  There,  all  official  relations  were  regulated 
by  the  representatives  of  the  civil  government,  and  with  them 
rested  the  main  responsibility ;  here,  Muhlenberg  was  thrown 
much  more  upon  his  own  resources.  There,  too,  office  as 
such  gave  weight  to  the  incumbent ;  here,  the  incumbent  had 
to  magnify  the  office.  There,  the  commonwealth  with  such 
thorough  control  led  the  Church  and  the  congregation ;  here, 
every  congregation  was,  at  least  at  the  time  of  the  arrival 
of  Muhlenberg,  a  totally  independent  private  association, 
acknowledging  no  higher  ecclesiastical  authority  and  exclu- 
sively governing  itself.  There,  society  was,  since  time  imme- 
morial, divided  into  classes,  some  of  them  enjoying  great 
prerogatives  and  privileges ;  here,  the  principle  of  social 
equality  was  carried  out  to  a  very  large  extent,  and  all 
claims  of  higher  education  and  standing  made  little  impres- 
sion. The  individual  had  only  as  much  social  influence  as 
others  were  inclined  or  willing  to  give  and  allow.  Muhlen- 
berg had  ample  occasion  to  find  out  how  far  the  sentiment 
was  actualized  which  William  Penn,  when  he  became  Pro- 
prietor of  his  province  of  Pennsylvania,  in  a  letter  of  April 
6,  1681,  expressed  to  its  inhabitants:  "You  shall  be  gov- 
erned by  laws  of  your  own  making,  and  live  a  free  and,  if 
you  will,  a  sober  and  industrious  people."  Concerning  the 
affairs  and  condition  of  the  Church,  as  he  here  found  them, 
Muhlenberg  in  his  diaries  and  correspondence  frequently 
refers  to  the  fact  that  in  Germany  it  was  ecclesia  plantata, 
here  ecclesia  plantanda. 

Muhlenberg  arrived  in  Pennsylvania  sixty  years  after  Wil- 
liam Penn's  first  visit  to  his  province.     It  is  stated  that  about 


go  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

the  year  1688  there  were  in  all  the  original  twelve  provinces 
— Georgia  formed  then  a  part  of  the  Carolinas — possibly  two 
hundred  thousand  white  people.  It  is  also  stated  that  prior 
to  the  year  1721  no  less  than  fifty  thousand  foreigners,  espe- 
cially Germans,  had  emigrated  to  Pennsylvania.  The  condi- 
tion of  this  province  was  a  happy  one.  The  relation  with 
the  Indians,  owing  to  the  philanthropic  spirit  and  the  wise 
tactics  of  Penn,  continued  a  pleasant  one  for  many  years. 
Troubles  of  a  more  serious  character  began  in  the  years 
1730-40.  The  war  between  England  and  Spain  endangered 
to  some  extent  the  peace  and  the  progress  of  the  English 
colonies  in  America.  In  1744  war  was  declared  between 
England  and  France.  The  French  claimed  possession  of 
Canada  as  New  France,  and  made  effectual  efforts  to  estab- 
lish themselves  on  the  Ohio  and  Alleghany  Rivers.  Both 
English  and  French  endeavored  to  make  allies  of  the  Indians, 
and  each  sought  to  buy  their  services.  In  Pennsylvania  the 
Indians  felt  themselves  wronged  by  the  manner  in  which  on 
some  occasions  they  were  treated.  When  they  became  trou- 
blesome, preparations  to  defend  the  province  in  case  of  need 
seemed  necessary.  Eastern  Pennsylvania  was  then  settled 
to  a  considerable  extent.  Towns  were  building  west  of  the 
Susquehanna  in  the  direction  of  the  present  Adams  county, 
toward  the  Maryland  frontier.  The  question  concerning  the 
boundary-line  between  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  during 
the  years  1730-40  had  caused  bloody  conflicts  and  legal  dif- 
ficulties. It  was  not  finally  settled  until  1763  by  the  royal 
engineers  Mason  and  Dixon,  whose  name  it  still  bears.  Lan- 
caster county,  formerly  belonging  to  Chester  county,  was 
organized  into  a  separate  district  in  1729,  and  Lancaster  city 
was  begun  in  the  following  year.  A  short  time  afterward 
settlers  were  found  near  the  Susquehanna  in  the  direction  of 
the  present  capital  of  the  State.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that 
immigrants  coming  from  the  shores  of  the  Hudson  and  the 
Schoharie  Rivers  in  the  province  of  New  York  had  occupied 
lands  watered  by  the  Swatara  and  the  Tulpehoken.  Settle- 
ments, especially  of  Germans,  were  found  before  the  middle  of 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  gi 

the  last  century  in  the  districts  adjoining  the  Schuylkill,  the  Le- 
high,  and  the  Delaware  Rivers  and  their  tributaries  in  South- 
western Pennsylvania.  There  was  some  sort  of  a  road  then 
between  the  Upper  Delaware  and  the  Hudson  and  terminat- 
ing near  Kingston.  Of  course  roads  were  in  those  days  gen- 
erally of  a  very  primitive  character.  There  were  no  bridges 
spanning  the  rivers,  but  here  and  there  privileged  ferries,  and 
farmers  were  obliged  often  to  travel  many  miles  to  find  a  mill. 
During  the  winter  communication  between  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, and  Baltimore  ceased  sometimes  through  weeks. 

When  William  Penn  came  up  in  a  boat  from  Upland — 
which  name  he  changed  into  Chester — and  landed,  Oct.  27, 
1682,  where  now  Philadelphia  stands,  he  found  there,  on  land 
bought  from  some  Swedish  settlers,  a  few  very  primitive 
houses.  Some  settlers  even  at  a  later  time  took  refuge  in  the 
caves  which  had  been  dug  out  at  a  much  earlier  period  by 
Indians  in  the  high  embankments  of  the  Delaware.  All  the 
land  was  covered  with  primeval  forest.  Horses  lost  in  the 
thicket  were  sometimes  not  found  for  many  days.  It  is  said 
that  in  1685,  Philadelphia  numbered  some  hundreds  of  houses 
and  a  corresponding  population,  consisting  essentially  of 
Quakers.  In  1683,  Germans  under  the  leadership  of  Francis 
Daniel  Pastorius  laid  the  foundation  of  Germantown.  In  Phil- 
adelphia a  school  was  opened  in  the  same  year;  in  1686,  Brad- 
ford first  used  his  printing-press.  The  first  paper-mill  was 
erected  at  Wissahickon,  near  Philadelphia,  in  1690  by  Ritting- 
huysen,  the  father  of  the  celebrated  astronomer.  The  State- 
House — now  better  known  as  Independence  Hall — was  erected 
between  1729-73,  but  was  without  its  tower  when  Miihlen- 
berg  arrived.  At  that  time  the  streets  of  the  city  were  not 
yet  paved.  Systematic  efforts  in  this,  direction  did  not  begin 
before  1753.  Westward  the  more  fully  built-up  parts  of  the 
town  extended  to  Fifth  street  between  Mulberry  and  Wal- 
nut streets,  while  here  and  there,  at  greater  distances,  some 
houses  were  found  in  other  directions.  At  that  time  the 
town  contained  about  thirteen  thousand  inhabitants,  and 
could  hardly  be  considered  what  we  now  call  a  city.  Yet 


92  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

it  was  in  a  commercial  point  of  view  then  a  much  more  im- 
portant place  than  New  York. 

The  administration  of  public  affairs  in  Pennsylvania  was 
from  Penn's  time  essentially  in  the  hands  of  Quakers.  They 
formed  largely  the  council  of  the  lieutenant-governor  and 
greatly  predominated  in  the  Assembly,  and  during  times  of 
peace  the  Quaker  government,  though  not  of  a  progressive 
character,  was  on  the  whole  satisfactory.  It  was  economical 
and  honest.  The  interests  of  the  governor,  who  was  a  repre- 
sentative not  only  of  the  Proprietaries,  but  also  of  the  English 
Crown,  naturally  did  not  always  coincide  with  those  of  the 
Quakers,  and  the  relation  between  the  two  authorities  had 
for  some  time  not  been  of  a  pleasant  character.  But  when 
the  clouds  of  war  arose  on  the  provincial  horizon  the  princi- 
ples maintained  on  each  side  came  into  serious  conflict. 

In  May,  1746,  the  government  in  England  thought  the  con- 
quest of  Canada  indispensably  necessary  for  the  security  of 
its  possessions  in  America.  The  American  provinces  were 
expected  to  send  their  quota  of  soldiers  for  this  purpose. 
Anything  directly  in  aid  of  warlike  preparations  the  Penn- 
sylvania Quaker  Assembly,  true  to  their  moral  and  religious 
principles,  positively  refused.  After  considerable  delay,  under 
the  pressure  of  popular  excitement,  these  non-resistants  in  the 
previous  year  had  voted  "  four  thousand  pounds  to  John  Pole 
and  John  Mifflin,  trustees,  to  be  laid  out  for  purchase  of  bread, 
meat,  wheat,  flour,  and  other  grain  for  the  king's  service,  as 
the  governor  shall  think  best."  The  governor  took  the  "  other 
grain"  in  the  sense  of  gunpowder.  But  when,  in  1747,  Span- 
ish and  French  privateers  entered  the  Delaware,  took  some 
prizes,  and  threatened  the  houses,  villages,  and  towns  on  the 
shores,  and  the  majority  of  the  Quakers  in  the  Assembly 
again  refused  to  take  decisive  measures  of  defence,  the  Quaker 
policy  and  regime  in  Pennsylvania  could  not  much  longer 
escape  their  doom.  Other  elements,  best  represented  by  Ben- 
jamin Franklin,  by  and  by  moved  into  the  foreground. 

The  population  of  Pennsylvania  was  at  that  time  a  very 
mixed  one.  There  were  Swedes,  found  in  West  Jersey,  but 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  93 

also  on  the  shores  of  Pennsylvania  along  the  Delaware  from 
Trenton  down  to  the  "  Lower  Counties,"  now  forming  the 
State  of  Delaware,  and  Swedes  had  settled  on  the  Neshaminy 
and  had  passed  up  the  Schuylkill  as  far  as  the  present  Potts- 
town  and  the  Manatawny  Creek,  and  some  miles  above  it. 
The  Quakers  of  England  were  strongly  represented  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Philadelphia,  in  Chester  and  Bucks  coun- 
ties, and  in  the  present  State  of  Delaware.  Immigrants  from 
Wales  were  found  in  divers  localities,  especially  as  servants 
or  tenants  of  owners  of  large  tracts  of  landed  estates.  Other 
representatives  of  the  English  dominion,  especially  Scotch- 
Irish,  were  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century  settled  west 
of  the  Susquehanna,  toward  the  frontiers  of  Maryland,  and  in 
the  western  portions  of  the  present  Lancaster  county  and  in 
neighboring  parts.  Exceedingly  strong  in  South-eastern 
Pennsylvania  was  the  German  and  Swiss-  German  element. 
It  was  intermixed  with  a  sprinkling  of  French  Huguenots, 
who,  on  account  of  their  being  persecuted  as  Protestants,  had 
fled  from  France,  and  had  first  taken  refuge  in  the  Palatinate, 
and  then  with  the  Palatines  had  emigrated  to  Pennsylvania. 
Decidedly  the  strongest  contribution  of  immigrants  up  to  the 
middle  of  the  last  century  had  come  from  Germany,  and  espe- 
cially from  the  shores  of  the  Upper  Rhine  and  adjacent  parts. 
We  read  that  in  1752  Pennsylvania  had,  out  of  one  hundred 
and  ninety  thousand  white  inhabitants,  ninety  thousand  Ger- 
mans. It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  number  of  Indians 
and  of  colored  people — many  of  the  latter  slaves — in  those 
times  living  in  Pennsylvania.  Three  years  later  the  white 
population  had  increased,  especially  under  the  influence  of 
continuous  and  powerful  immigration,  to  two  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand,  the  half  of  whom  were  Germans.  Some 
individuals  belonging  to  the  English  stock  felt  considerable 
concern  about  this  increasing  percentage  of  the  German  ele- 
ment in  Pennsylvania.  There  was  no  cause  for  alarm.  Penn- 
sylvania proved,  as  Penn  had  intended  it,  a  refuge  for  those 
who  in  Europe  had  suffered  persecution  on  account  of  their 
religious  tenets.  Here  the  Quakers  of  England  and  other 


94  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

dissenters  found  a  peaceful  home,  and  also  the  various  shades 
of  Christian  belief,  which  in  those  times,  exclusive  of  the  Ro- 
manists, were  represented  by  Reformed  and  by  Lutherans,  and 
by  parties  opposed  to  both  those  traditional  churches — the 
Mennonites  and  kindred  fragments,  the  Inspired,  the  Schwenk- 
felders,  the  Gichtelians,  and  others.  At  that  time  there 
were  in  Pennsylvania  about  two  thousand  Romanists,  and 
also  some  Israelites.  Numerically,  the  Lutherans  were  the 
strongest  party.  While  all  these  were  of  absorbing  interest 
to  Miihlenberg,  and  opened  to  him  a  very  extensive  field  for 
missionary  work,  he  had  a  direct  and  special  call  to  three 
congregations,  and  it  was  his  first  care  to  present  himself  to 
these. 

When  he  'arrived  in  Philadelphia  he  had,  as  it  appears,  no 
recommendation  to  any  individual  family  or  business-firm  of 
the  city.  This  clearly  indicates  how  little  connection  there 
was  at  that  time  between  the  Old  and  the  New  Worlds.  How- 
ever, we  think  that  it  would  not  have  been  difficult  in  London 
to  have  procured  for  him  an  introduction  to  some  one,  which 
might  have  been  of  value  to  him.  As  it  was,  he  found  himself 
now  a  total  stranger  in  Philadelphia.  He  had,  probably  at 
Ebenezer,  heard  of  a  druggist,  John  Andr.  Zwiefler,  who  had 
settled  in  Philadelphia.  After  having  deposited  his  baggage 
in  an  English  inn  he  inquired  for  him.  Zwiefler,  whose  native 
country  was  Hungary,  had  reached  Georgia  in  1734  with  the 
first  Salzburger  "  transport ;"  for  a  time  served  the  Ebenezer 
people  as  physician  and  druggist;  Sept.  6,  1736,  declared  his 
intention  of  returning  to  Europe ;  lost  his  wife  Oct.  6th  of  the 
same  year,  her  constitution  having  been  ruined  by  long-con- 
tinued fevers;  Feb.  20,  1737,  for  the  last  time  partook  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  at  Ebenezer ;  left  there  March  7th ;  passed 
through  Charleston ;  came  to  Philadelphia  ;  and  was  found 
here  by  Miihlenberg,  Nov.  25,  1742,  a  member  of  the  Mora- 
vian congregation  organized  there  the  same  year  by  Count 
von  Thurnstein,  alias  Count  von  Zinzendorf.  The  count  had 
arrived  in  November,  1741,  in  New  York,  and  on  the  24th 
of  the  same  month  in  Philadelphia.  Here  he  had  introduced 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  95 

himself  as  having  ecclesiastical  authority  over  the  Lutherans 
in  the  province,  and  had  influenced  a  number  of  German 
Lutherans,  who  were  without  a  pastor,  to  give  him  a  call  to 
their  congregation.  The  call  was  in  Zwiefler's  handwriting. 
Miihlenberg  was  kindly  received  by  this  man,  and  in  answer 
to  his  inquiries  about  the  German  Lutherans  was  informed 
that  the  most  spiritual,  and  indeed  the  majority  of  them  at  Phil- 
adelphia, had  joined  Zinzendorf,  and  that  the  rest  of  them  had 
given  a  call  to  a  certain  old  preacher,  John  Valentin  Kraft, 
who,  after  having  been  dismissed  from  his  charge  in  the  duke- 
dom of  Zweibriicken  in  Germany,  had  come  hither.  Such  news 
was  not  encouraging  to  Muhlenberg,  and  could  hardly  induce 
him  to  begin  his  operations  at  Philadelphia,  where  the  Ger- 
man Lutheran  elements  were  already  absorbed  by  two  com- 
petitors. We  remember  that  of  Zinzendorf 's  efforts  to  change 
the  German  Lutherans  at  Philadelphia  into  Moravians,  Muhl- 
enberg had  received  some  knowledge  on  his  second  visit  to 
Charleston,  S.  C.  He  was,  however,  by  no  means  willing  to 
give  this  part  of  the  field  of  labor  to  which  he  had  been  called 
into  the  hands  of  others.  He  rented  a  room  in  the  house  in 
which  Zwiefler  lived,  since  no  other  could  be  found,  and  re- 
turned to  the  English  inn  where  he  had  first  entered,  and 
inquired  of  the  innkeeper  about  New  Providence  and  New 
Hanover,  the  two  congregations  which,  together  with  Phil- 
adelphia, had  sent  petitions  for  a  pastor  to  Europe.  The  inn- 
keeper, not  knowing  those  localities,  called  in  a  German  from 
the  country  who  was  there  at  that  time,  but  had  his  residence 
at  New  Hanover.  His  name  was  Philipp  Brandt.  He  told 
Muhlenberg  that  it  was  useless  to  inquire  about  those  places 
with  those  names,  since  New  Providence  was  much  better 
known  by  the  name  of  Trappe,  and  New  Hanover  under  that 
of  Falkner  Swamp.  He  also  gave  information  of  the  fact  that 
the  Lutherans  at  the  latter  locality  had  "  hired  "  as  a  preacher 
N.  Schmidt,  whose  profession  was  that  of  a  quack  doctor  and 
dentist :  the  latter  branch  was  in  those  days  essentially  re- 
stricted to  pulling  teeth  in  some  way  or  another.  Brandt 
intended  the  same  evening  to  return  to  his  home,  in  spite  of 


96  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

the  distressing  condition  of  the  roads.  Miihlenberg  had  his 
baggage  transferred  to  his  rented  room,  and  though,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  suffering  during  the  sea-voyage  from  Charles- 
ton, still  enfeebled  and  swollen,  set  out  on  a  hired  horse 
with  Brandt,  and  lodged  over  night  with  a  German  inn- 
keeper ten  miles  from  Philadelphia,  where  some  Germans, 
in  conversation  with  each  other,  said  that  "the  old  parson, 
Valentin  Kraft,  had  been  accepted  at  Philadelphia,  German- 
town,  and  Trappe." 

Friday,  Nov.  26th,  Miihlenberg  and  Brandt  continued  their 
journey  in  company  with  some  other  Germans.  They  were 
obliged  to  cross  two  creeks,  Schippach  and  Perkiomen.  From 
the  latter,  which  was  so  swollen  that  Miihlenberg's  small  and 
feeble  horse  sank  in  up  to  the  breast,  he  extricated  himself, 
though  not  without  danger  to  life  and  limb.  He  was  then, 
at  the  beginning  of  his  missionary  career  in  Pennsylvania, 
reminded  of  a  frequent  saying  of  good  old  Pastor  Sommer 
of  Schortritz  in  Anhalt :  Credo  Providentiam.  Riding  along 
ten  miles  farther  in  the  dark  night,  Miihlenberg  and  Brandt 
arrived  at  the  latter's  house  in  New  Hanover,  where  Miihlen- 
berg met  with  a  kind  reception  and  was  hospitably  provided 
for — a  special  blessing,  since  he  had  contracted  a  severe 
catarrhal  fever.  On  the  following  morning  Brandt  took 
him  still  farther  into  the  country,  to  one  of  the  deacons, 
where  in  the  afternoon  four  elders  and  two  deacons  held  a 
meeting.  Brandt  read  to  them  the  letter  of  Ziegenhagen. 
He  had  received  in  Germany  a  commercial  education,  was 
well  informed  in  matters  of  religion,  and  led  a  good  Chris- 
tian life  in  humble  circumstances  until,  under  the  kind  spir- 
itual care  of  Miihlenberg,  after  protracteof  sickness,  he  de- 
parted in  peace,  having  attained  to  somewhat  more  than 
fifty  years.  Some  of  the  men  assembled  on  that  occasion 
said  that  Schmidt's  services  were  already  engaged,  but  that 
they  would  not  oppose  Miihlenberg,  neither  show  disrespect 
to  Ziegenhagen's  letter,  provided  the  members  of  the  congre- 
gation were  satisfied.  They  thought,  however,  that  one  pastor 
couid  not  well  serve  the  three  congregations,  New  Hanover 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  97 

being  thirty-six  miles  distant  from  Philadelphia,  the  roads  in 
winter  very  bad,  and  two  creeks  increasing  the  difficulty. 
Others  thought  that  Miihlenberg  should  .come  to  an  under- 
standing with  Kraft,  so  that  Kraft  should  serve  Philadelphia 
and  the  neighboring  Germantown — Miihlenberg,  New  Provi-' 
dence  and  New  Hanover,  or  vice  versa.  Miihlenberg  said 
that  his  call  excluded  Germantown,  and  was  directed  to  the 
three  other  congregations  as  long  as  they  did  not  refuse  him. 
They  saw  a  difficulty  in  the  connection  already  formed 
between  Kraft  and  the  congregations  at  Philadelphia,  Ger- 
mantown, and  New  Providence.  Miihlenberg,  allowing  things 
to  rest  for  the  present  moment,  asked  that  he  might  be  per- 
mitted to  preach  the  following  day,  the  first  Sunday  in 
Advent,  and  that  Schmidt  also  should  be  notified.  He  closed 
the  meeting  with  prayer,  and  remained  in  the  deacon's  house, 
where  he  learned  through  private  conversation  that  the  con- 
gregation was  in  a  confused,  dismembered  condition.  Some 
were  attached  to  Schmidt,  others  had  separated  themselves 
from  it  on  his  account;  some  had  withdrawn  from  the  congre- 
gation at  an  earlier  period,  and  were  unwilling  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  churches  or  parsons;  some  had  acceded  to 
Zinzendorf's  new  arrangements,  and  many  others  had  lost 
all  faith.  "  Poor  consolation !"  exclaims  Miihlenberg  in  his 
diary.  It  required  courage  and  faithfulness  under  this  first 
experience  in  the  field  of  labor  to  which  he  was  called  to  tri- 
umph over  the  difficulties. 

On  the  following  day  a  number  of  people  came  to  the  dea- 
con's hduse,  where  a  Jew  kept  a  store,  and  began  to  traffic  and 
to  barter  without  the  least  regard  for  the  sanctity  of  the  day. 
The  Jew  was  involved  in  a  difficulty  with  a  cabinetmaker,  a 
member  of  the  congregation,  and  the  matter  was  expected  to 
end  in  a  lawsuit.  Miihlenberg  acted  as  a  peacemaker.  His 
efforts  to  reconcile  them  were  crowned  with  success,  and  they 
forgave  each  other,  as  they  said,  "  out  of  love  for  him."  To 
the  Jew,  Miihlenberg  gave  a  special  lesson  on  account  of  his 
offensive  language,  but  he  suggested  that  Miihlenberg  did  not 
yet  know  the  manners  of  this  country. 
7 


98  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

At  9  A.  M.  Miihlenberg,  with  the  deacon,  rode  on  horseback 
to  the  church,  a  log  building  not  finished  within.  Men  and 
women  came  to  the  place  of  worship  on  horseback.  Schmidt 
also  came,  and  took  his  seat  with  Miihlenberg,  who  unreserved- 
ly told  him  that  he  now  intended  to  preach  an  inaugural  ser- 
mon, with  the  view  of  relieving  Schmidt  of  his  office.  Schmidt 
behaved  politely,  and  said  that  he  did  not  intend  to  offer  any 
objections.  Miihlenberg's  text  was  2  Cor.  v.  19,  20.  The 
remembrance  that  just  a  year  before  he  had  preached  his 
farewell  sermon  at  Grosshennersdorf  peculiarly  affected  his 
feelings. 

After  the  service  Miihlenberg  read  to  the  congregation  the 
call  and  instructions  he  had  received  from  Ziegenhagen,  as 
the  elders  and  deacons  had  requested.  In  the  afternoon,  as 
different  members  of  the  congregation  came  as  visitors,  he 
had  an  opportunity  of  speaking  with  them  on  diverse  subjects 
referring  to  their  spiritual  life  and  the  condition  of  the  con- 
gregation, and  to  learn  the  views  of  the  people.  Some  were 
glad,  hoping  that  the  congregation  would  now  gradually  be 
brought  into  good  order.  Those  attached  to  Schmidt  sug- 
gested that  it  would  not  be  proper  to  discharge  him  alto- 
gether, though  he  was  not  ordained  and  sometimes  was  given 
to  drinking,  "  yet  not  in  an  unchristian  manner,  since  even 
among  the  saints  there  were  none  without  fault :"  he  might 
be  kept  as  an  assistant  and  preach  in  the  absence  of  the  new 
pastor.  Others,  who  had  long  been  separated,  intended  to 
wait  and  to  see  what  turn  things  would  take,  since  they  had 
been  deceived  time  and  again :  nobody  knew,  they  maintained, 
whether  the  letters  were  not  Miihlenberg's  own  fabrication. 
Some  also  had  taken  offence  that  in  the  call  forty  pounds  ster- 
ling were  demanded  as  the  yearly  salary ;  they  viewed  this  as 
an  effort  to  settle  on  them  in  this  manner  a  perpetual  tax,  and 
would  rather  not  entangle  themselves.  Miihlenberg,  while 
listening  to  all  this,  rejoiced  that  Providence  had  kept  back 
the  beloved  Boltzius,  and  saved  that  good  man  such  a  dis- 
tressing and  discouraging  experience.  Miihlenberg  in  his 
peculiar  way  suggests  in  his  diary  that  sea-sickness  had 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  99 

happily  influenced  his  physical  condition,  but  that  now  he 
had  taken  moral  emetics  and  felt  their  salutary  effect. 

Monday,  Nov.  29th,  Miihlenberg,  accompanied  by  three 
elders,  paid  a  visit  to  New  Providence,  or  Trappe,  in  a  south- 
ern direction  nine  miles  distant  from  New  Hanover,  to  meet 
there  the  church-officers.  With  his  companions  he  enjoyed 
the  hospitality  of  a  truly  Christian  woman,  the  widow  Schrack, 
whose  husband  was  one  of  the  officers  who  had  sent  the  peti- 
tion for  a  pastor  to  Ziegenhagen,  but  had  died  during  the  pre- 
ceding summer.  The  oldest  officer  then  living  was  requested 
to  appear.  Seeing  the  papers  laid  before  him,  he  at  once  rec- 
ognized Ziegenhagen's  handwriting,  and  was  glad  that  Miihl- 
enberg had  come.  He  said  that  as  no  answer  had  been  given 
to  the  last  letter  since  1739,  they  had  lost  hope,  did  not  expect 
that  a  pastor  would  be  sent,  and  had  petitioned  for  one  to  the 
consistory  of  the  church  of  Hesse-Darmstadt — that  a  short 
time  before  an  old  preacher,  Valentin  Kraft,  arrived,  and  main- 
tained that  the  consistory  had  sent  him,  though  he  brought  no 
testimonials,  but  said  that  they  would  be  sent.  There  were  also 
some  people  here  who  had  known  Kraft  as  a  pastor  in  Ger- 
many. It  was  the  opinion  of  this  officer  that  Miihlenberg 
should  converse  with  the  Rev.  Kraft,  and  should  serve  either 
the  congregations  at  Philadelphia  and  Germantown  or  the 
two  farther  up  in  the  country.  Miihlenberg  left  matters  un- 
decided. 

Tuesday,  Nov.  3Oth,  at  7  p.  M.,  he  again  arrived  at  Philadel- 
phia. Entering  an  English  inn  to  pay  for  the  horse  he  had 
hired,  he  was  addressed  by  a  number  of  gentlemen  assembled 
in  a  large  room  with  the  question  whether  he  were  a  Moravian 
or  a  Lutheran  or  a  Presbyterian  or  a  Church  (Episcopal)  minis- 
ter. When -they  received  the  answer  that  they  should  first 
learn  better  manners,  and  not  address  such  questions  to  a 
stranger,  they  apologized.  On  the  following  day  a  deacon 
of  New  Providence,  who  had  accompanied  him,  took  Miihl- 
enberg to  a  German  inn,  there  to  pay  his  respects  to  Rev. 
Kraft.  In  the  presence  of  some  Germans,  Kraft  reprimanded 
Muhlenberg  for  having  on  the  day  of  his  arrival  gone  to  the 


100  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

country  without  seeing  himself,  but  with  a  patronizing  air 
added  that  he  would  be  able  to  assist  him  and  to  put  him  into 
a  place  for  which  he  would  be  best  suited.  Miihlenberg  held 
his  peace  for  the  present.  Kraft  continued  to  enlarge  upon 
his  travels  through  the  country,  his  establishment  of  a  general 
and  of  a  special  presbytery,  his  appointment  here  and  there  of 
elders  and  deacons,  of  a  consistory  organized  and  to  be  pre- 
sided over  by  him.  Miihlenberg  says  that  this  man  enjoyed 
then  a  considerable  respect,  since  the  poor,  ignorant  Luther- 
ans on  the  one  hand  were  harassed  by  the  Moravians,  and  on 
the  other  were  overawed  by  Kraft's  impudent  boasting.  Kraft 
even  added  that  he  had  already  reported  his  ecclesiastical 
arrangements  through  an  honest  man,  Thomas  Mayer,  to  the 
consistory  of  Hesse-Darmstadt,  and  expected  to  have  them 
confirmed.  Muhlenberg,  desirous  of  showing  the  letter  of 
Ziegenhagen  to  the  elders  and  deacons  of  the  Lutheran  con- 
gregation at  Philadelphia,  was  informed  that  all  was  subject 
to  Kraft's  direction,  and  that  the  reading  of  that  letter  could 
only  take  place  with  his  consent.  Kraft  in  the  afternoon  even 
sent  for  two  of  his  special  presbytery  and  read  to  them  Zie- 
genhagen's  letter,  again  asserting  with  pretended  official  dig- 
nity that  he  would  place  Muhlenberg  where  it  might  be  neces- 
sary. The  man's  whole  behavior  was  reckoned  by  Muhlen- 
berg among  the  "  moral  emetics."  Before  all  those  present  on 
the  occasion  he  declared  that  from  the  directions  which  were 
given  to  him  in  Europe  he  would  not  deviate,  and  in  case 
the  three  congregations  to  which  he  had  been  sent  would 
not  accept  him,  he  would  be  obliged  to  get  permission  of  his 
superiors  to  take  charge  of  others.  This  made  a  perceptible 
impression  upon  Kraft.  He  ordered  the  two  members  of  his 
special  presbytery  to  make  arrangements  that  on  the  follow- 
ing Sunday,  the  second  Sunday  in  Advent,  while  he  would 
attend  to  public  services  in  Germantown,  Muhlenberg  should 
preach  at  Philadelphia  in  the  old  butcher-shop  which  Luther- 
ans and  Reformed  had  rented  to  hold  their  services  there  alter- 
nately. Finally,  Kraft  informed  Muhlenberg  that  a  respect- 
able Swedish  merchant,  Peter  Kock,  expected  both  of  them 


HENR Y  MEL CHIOR  MUHLENbEllti,  '.**!        -- 16 £ 

on  the  following  day  to  take  dinner  with  him.  Kock  had 
heard  of  Miihlenberg  from  Captain  Child,  whose  sloop  had 
brought  him  from  Charleston. 

On  the  following  day  Kraft  called  at  Muhlenberg's  lodg- 
ings to  escort  him  to  Kock's  house.  He  advised  him  to  be 
quite  merry,  lest  Kock  might  suspect  him  of  Pietism;  he 
also  intimated  that  many  thought  he  was  secretly  a  Mora- 
vian. During  dinner  the  conversation  turned  upon  ecclesi- 
astical subjects.  The  merry-making  of  Miihlenberg  consisted 
in  his  presenting  to  his  host,  who  was  an  intelligent  man  and 
a  patron  of  Lutheranism,  the  writings  of  Ziegenhagen — an 
act  pleasing  to  Kock,  but  not  at  all  to  Kraft.  Kock  rejoiced 
in  Muhlenberg's  safe  arrival,  and  requested  him  on  the  next 
Sunday  to  preach  a  German  sermon  in  the  Swedish  Lutheran 
church,  vacant  since  the  death  of  the  pastor,  Rev.  John  Dy- 
lander,  who  departed  this  life  Nov.  2,  1741.  Since  Miihlen- 
berg had  already  promised  to  preach  in  the  other  building,  it 
was  arranged  that  in  the  afternoon  he  should  officiate  in  the 
Swedish  church.  On  the  following  day  he  was  invited  to  a 
German  sugar-refiner's,  an  intimate  friend  of  Kock's  and  a  de- 
vout Lutheran,  who  was  opposed  to  Zinzendorf  s  plans  and 
to  Kraft's  presbyteries,  but  was  much  pleased  with  Ziegen- 
hagen's  letters.  This  man  was  Henry  Schleydorn,  formerly 
of  New  York,  who  at  that  time  was  one  of  the  few  members 
of  the  German  Lutheran  congregation  who  were  not  living 
in  poverty.  He  was  highly  respected  among  his  brethren 
in  the  faith. 

December  5th,  the  second  Sunday  in  Advent,  Miihlenberg 
preached  his  first  sermon  in  Philadelphia.  He  had,  as  may  be 
expected,  a  large  audience  there  and  in  the  Swedish  church, 
where  he  preached  in  the  afternoon.  The  meeting-house  of 
the  Germans  was  in  Mulberry  (now  Arch)  street  near  Fifth, 
in  the  northern  part  of  the  city  as  it  then  was.  The  Swedish 
church  was  beyond  the  southernmost  limit  of  the  then  built- 
up  part  of  the  city.  This  sermon  gave  the  German  Lutherans 
in  Philadelphia  an  opportunity  to  know  and  understand 
what  sort  of  a  man  had  now  appeared  among  them  to  take 


102  >    -   LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

care  of  their  spiritual  interests.  Kraft  found  it  opportune  to 
persuade  Miihlenberg  to  join  his  consistory,  of  which  he  had 
appointed  the  Rev.  John  Caspar  Stoever  a  member ;  he  also 
intended  to  ordain  a  worthless  German  schoolmaster  as  a 
pastor.  In  the  presence  of  witnesses  Miihlenberg  begged 
to  be  excused,  and  advised  Kraft  to  desist  from  his  plans, 
which  were  nothing  but  empty  pretences.  It  could  not  escape 
Kraft's  observation  that  all  intelligent  people  recognized  the 
legitimacy  of  Muhlenberg's  call.  He  therefore  tried  various 
ways  to  bring  about  some  sort  of  an  official  connection  with 
him.  He  advocated  a  division  of  labor  between  the  city 
and  the  congregations  in  the  country.  He  also  offered,  in 
a  patronizing  manner,  to  introduce  him  at  Lancaster  and  at 
other  places.  Meanwhile,  he  continued  to  perform  pastoral 
duties  in  the  Philadelphia  congregation,  sent  directions  con- 
cerning divine  services  to  the  country  congregations,  forced 
himself  upon  Miihlenberg  as  his  companion  when,  on  Satur- 
day, Dec.  nth,  Miihlenberg  again  went  to  New  Providence, 
and  exhibited  on  the  road  the  disgusting  meanness  of  his 
character  by  his  manner  of  associating  with  individuals  of 
his  stamp.  When  Miihlenberg  preached  there  the  first  time, 
Dec.  1 2th,  in  a  barn  which  then  had  to  serve  as  a  church, 
Kraft  read  the  letter  of  Ziegenhagen,  which  was  received  by 
the  people  with  joy,  and  tried  his  best  to  recommend  Miihl- 
enberg in  the  strongest  terms,  simply  with  the  intention  of 
keeping  him  away  from  Philadelphia. 

Miihlenberg  found  in  that  neighborhood  individuals  who 
had  received  good  Christian  instruction  in  Hesse-Darmstadt, 
their  native  province.  Some  of  them  came  to  see  him  in  the 
evening  and  engaged  in  edifying  conversation.  On  Monday, 
Kraft  left  for  New  Hanover,  to  continue  there  his  machina- 
tions before  the  arrival  of  Miihlenberg,  who  followed  in  the 
evening,  and  learned  that  Kraft  had  now  made  himself  busy 
about  procuring  a  wife  for  him.  Things  had  reached  a  climax. 
On  the  following  day  Miihlenberg  was  requested  to  baptize 
a  child  of  one  of  the  members  of  the  congregation.  Here 
also  Kraft  proved  very  officious,  made  arrangements,  and  gave 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  103 

orders.  Leaving  Muhlenberg  in  the  house,  he  addressed  the 
elders,  deacons,  and  other  members  assembled  outside,  tell- 
ing them  that  he  had  introduced  this  new  pastor  because 
he  wished  them  to  be  well  provided  for,  and  that  now  they 
should  keep  him  and  take  care  of  him  and  give  him  suitable 
lodgings ;  also,  that  he  intended  to  unite  another  congrega- 
tion, eight  miles  higher  up  in  the  country,  with  this  one :  if 
the  people  here  would  not  thankfully  take  Miihlenberg,  he 
would  at  once  take  him  to  Lancaster  and  there  install  him  as 
a  pastor.  These  boasts  of  Kraft  produced  some  commotion, 
and  some  of  the  elders  and  deacons  asked  Muhlenberg  what 
the  meaning  of  all  this  was — whether  the  old  man  Kraft  were 
his  superior,  whether  the  call  framed  by  Court-preacher  Zie- 
genhagen  were  not  genuine.  The  time  had  come  when  Muhl- 
enberg could  spare  Kraft  no  longer.  He  now  read  his  call 
again  to  the  assembled  people,  and  proved  that  he  was  in- 
tended as  pastor  of  Philadelphia,  New  Providence,  and  New 
Hanover.  To  his  question  whether  they  gave  their  consent 
to  it,  they  responded  with  a  unanimous  Ay.  Continuing,  he 
told  them  that  with  Kraft  he  had  no  connection  whatever, 
that  Kraft  had  no  authority  over  him  save  the  one  he  assumed 
illegitimately,  and  that  he  could  not  place  him  at  Lancaster 
or  any  other  locality.  In  reply  to  this  decisive  declaration 
of  independence,  Kraft  endeavored  to  excuse  himself  and  to 
smooth  things  over.  The  people  were  glad,  and  the  elders 
took  Muhlenberg  to  a  member  of  the  congregation  who  up 
to  this  time  had,  on  account  of  the  prevailing  disorders,  kept 
aloof  from  its  affairs,  but  now,  hoping  better  things,  was 
willing  to  reunite  with  the  church,  and  offered  Muhlenberg  a 
sort  of  booth  attached  to  his  house  where  he  could  study  and 
sleep,  but  not  walk  about,  as  it  was  not  much  larger  than  the 
cabin  on  the  Charleston  sloop  or  the  tub  of  Diogenes.  The 
elders  thought  Muhlenberg  might  say  farewell  to  Philadelphia, 
since  it  was  too  distant.  To  this  proposition  he  did  not  con- 
sent, since  that  city  was  included  in  his  call.  They  desired  him 
at  once  to  stay  with  them  for  a  time,  because  there  were  some 
who  after  Muhlenberg's  first  sermon  had  demanded  during  his 


IO4  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

absence  that  Schmidt  should  again  preach  to  them ;  to  which 
Schmidt  had  consented  on  condition  that  they  would  obtain 
for  him  Miihlenberg's  permission  in  writing.  This  moved 
Muhlenberg  to  stay  and  to  preach  the  following  Sunday. 

After  having  taken  a  survey  of  his  new  habitation,  Muhl- 
enberg held  a  private  conversation  with  Kraft.  He  censured 
him  severely  because  he  had  done  great  wrong,  and  had  in- 
deed not  taken  the  right  road  to  do  credit  to  the  Lutheran 
cause.  Kraft,  knowing  that  he  could  no  longer  figure  there, 
departed,  Dec.  I5th,  for  Lancaster.  The  following  day,  Thurs- 
day, Muhlenberg  moved  to  his  lodgings,  and  thanked  God  that 
here  he  could  be  by  himself,  collect  his  mind,  and  meditate. 

And  now  his  pastoral  work  began.  Visitors  came,  among 
them  some  who  were  in  a  suitable  spiritual  condition ;  others 
who  thought  that  in  his  sermons  he  should  tell  the  truth  to 
their  neighbors.  Sunday,  Dec.  iQth,  he  preached  before  a  large 
assembly,  many  having  come  from  the  surrounding  country  ^ 
and  afterward  baptized,  and,  since  many  opposed  baptism,  and 
especially  paedobaptism,  he  took  occasion  to  explain  the  mean- 
ing of  it  and  to  remind  many  of  their  own  baptismal  covenant. 
Directly  after  the  close  of  the  exercises,  having  announced 
that  service  would  be  held  on  Christmas,  he  went  on  horseback 
to  New  Providence,  and  there  preached,  to  a  large  assembly 
gathered  in  and  around  the  barn,  on  the  Epistle  of  the  day? 
the  last  Sunday  in  Advent.  He  found  the  people  very  atten- 
tive. With  some  of  them  he  engaged  in  the  evening  in 
conversation  on  spiritual  matters.  The  people  seemed  to  be 
desirous  of  hearing  the  word  of  God. 

Monday,  Dec.  2Oth,  one  of  the  officers  of  the  New  Han- 
over congregation  came  to  take  Muhlenberg  back  to  that 
place.  By  direction  of  Kraft  it  had  been  announced  at 
Philadelphia  that  on  Christmas  the  Lord's  Supper  would 
be  there  administered  to  the  congregation.  Muhlenberg, 
however,  considering  the  relation  now  existing  between  him 
and  the  New  Hanover  and  New  Providence  congregations, 
thought  it  proper  to  celebrate  Christmas  with  those  who  had 
accepted  him,  and  not  with  the  Philadelphia  Lutherans,  who 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  105 

had  not  taken  any  steps  in  that  direction.  Having  arrived  at 
Philadelphia  on  Tuesday  evening,  he  informed  Peter  Kock 
and  other  friends  of  these  circumstances  and  of  his  resolu- 
tion. These  friends,  feeling  embarrassed,  blamed  the  officers 
of  the  Philadelphia  congregation  that  they  had  not  paid  more 
respect  to  Miihlenberg's  call.  These  officers  were  reproached 
also  by  different  members  of  the  congregation  when  Mlihlen- 
berg  insisted  on  it  that  the  proposition  to  hold  the  Lord's 
Supper  on  Christmas  was  an  arrangement  of  Kraft's,  whose 
claims  upon  them  they  had  acknowledged,  while  he  could 
spend  Christmas  only  with  those  whom  he  could  call  his  own. 
Assenting,  however,  to  the  advice  of  Kock  and  other  friends, 
he  promised  to  come  again  to  the  city  on  the  third  day  after 
Christmas  to  preach  in  the  Swedish  church,  and  there  to  have 
the  documents  connected  with  his  call  examined  before  the 
people  in  the  presence  of  the  Swedish  pastor,  Rev.  Peter 
Tranberg,  then  serving  the  congregation  at  Christina,  now 
Wilmington,  Del.  On  the  evening  of  the  same  day,  Kraft, 
having  returned  to  the  city,  hearing  of  the  state  of  affairs, 
became  very  indignant  and  used  harsh  words  and  various 
threats.  Miihlenberg  told  him  his  fault  lay  in  having  assumed 
official  duties  which  he  was  not  entitled  to  perform ;  he  also 
invited  him  to  come  on  the  third  day  after  Christmas  to  the 
Swedish  church,  where  they  could  compare  their  respective 
credentials  as  pastors.  On  the  following  morning  Kraft  also 
treated  roughly  Muhlenberg's  companion,  an  officer  of  New 
Providence,  who  up  to  that  time  had  been  kindly  inclined  to 
Kraft.  Miihlenberg  with  his  companion  left  for  New  Provi- 
dence. On  Friday,  Dec.  24th,  he  arrived  at  New  Hanover. 
Here  he  preached  on  Christmas  to  a  large  assembly,  two 
officers  of  the  New  Providence  congregation  being  present. 
After  preparatory  services,  confession,  and  absolution  he 
also  administered  the  Lord's  Supper  to  one  hundred  or  more 
communicants.  In  the  evening  of  the  same  day  the  elders 
and  deacons  of  both  congregations  met  and  gave  their  signa- 
tures to  the  following  document — viz. :  "  We,  the  elders  and 
deacons  of  the  Protestant  Lutheran  congregations  at  New 


106  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

Hanover  and  Providence,  do  testify  and  affirm  by  subscription 
that  we  have  accepted  with  a  thankful  heart  the  Rev.  Henry 
Melchior  Miihlenberg  as  a  lawfully-called  and  ordained  minis- 
ter of  the  gospel,  and  through  our  supplications  sent  by  the 
Rev.  Frederick  Michael  Ziegenhagen,  His  Majesty's  German 
chaplain  and  member  of  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian 
Knowledge ;  and  promise  to  provide  our  minister  with  the  ne- 
cessaries required  for  his  living  in  his  lawful  vocation,  and  to 
assist  him  in  every  good  disposition  and  direction  which  he 
gives  for  our  and  our  children's  spiritual  welfare,  etc.  Dec.  25th, 
1742.  Deacons  and  elders  of  New  Hanover:  Christopher 
Withmann,  Matthias  Ringer,  Peter  Conrad,  Valentine  Geiger, 
Jacob  Aister,*  Martin  Keblinger,  George  Jiirger;  deacons  and 
elders  of  Providence:  John  Nicol.  Groessmann,  Frederick 
Marsteller,  John  Geo.  Beuter,  Nicolaus  Bittel,  Geo.  Groess- 
man,  Jacob  Miiller,  John  Geo.  Groessmann  the  saddler." 

In  his  diary  Muhlenberg  says  that  in  the  document  then 
and  there  subscribed  to  there  was  also  a  section  wherein  these 
representatives  of  the  congregations  promised  that  they  would 
permit  no  man  who  could  not  show  a  regular  call  and  ordina- 
tion, according  to  Article  XIV.  of  the  Augsburg  Confession, 
publicly  to  preach  or  to  adminster  the  sacraments  in  their 
congregations. 

On  Sunday,  Dec.  26th,  after  having  preached  to  a  large 
assembly  in  the  barn  during  a  great  storm,  he  went  with 
Frederick  Marsteller,  who,  as  well  as  his  family,  through 
many  years  proved  a  faithful  friend,  to  this  officer's  house, 
and  on  the  following  morning  rode  on  "  bad  roads  "  to  Phila- 
delphia. Near  the  city  he  met  the  "  old  Herr  Kraft,"  who 
was  going  into  the  country,  though  he  was  specially  invited 
to  be  present  in  the  Swedish  church,  about  a  mile  and  a 
half  distant  from  the  centre  of  the  city.  There  Muhlenberg 
met  in  the  afternoon  Rev.  P.  Tranberg,  Peter  Kock,  and  H. 
Schleydorn,  who  had  a  country-seat  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Germantown,  and  by  whose  advice  some  members  of  the 

*An  ancestor  of  the  Rev.  H.  E.  Jacobs,  D.  D.,  professor  in  the  Theological 
Seminary  of  the  Lutheran  Church  at  Philadelphia. 


HENRY  ME  LC HI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  1 07 

Lutheran  congregation  at  that  place  had  come  with  the  hope 
that  Miihlenberg  would,  to  some  extent  at  least,  serve  them 
also.  He  told  them  that  he  was  not  unwilling  to  serve  both 
Philadelphia  and  Germantown,  provided  he  could  find  an 
assistant  who  would  take  care  of  the  other  congregations. 

After  preaching  a  short  sermon  he  was  requested  by  the 
Rev.  Tranberg,  who  stood  before  the  altar,  to  show  his  cre- 
dentials. Tranberg  read  to  the  assembly  the  letter  and  the 
call  given  by  Ziegenhagen,  the  certificate  of  ordination  at 
Leipsic,  the  matriculation  certificate  and  testimonials  of  Got- 
tingen  University,  and  the  documents  subscribed  by  the 
church-officers  of  Providence  and  New  Hanover.  He  gave 
also  suitable  explanations  in  the  English  language,  as  he 
was  not  very  ready  in  the  German,  though  he  occasionally 
preached  to  the  German  Lutherans  in  their  native  tongue. 
Having  arrived  in  this  country  in  1726,  he  had  served  Swe- 
dish congregations  in  Pennsneck  and  Raccoon,  N.  J.,  and 
then  accepted  a  call  to  Christina  in  1741.  He  died  sud- 
denly at  a  funeral  at  Pennsneck,  Nov.  8,  1748.  On  this 
occasion,  at  the  Swedish  or  Wicaco  church  at  Philadelphia, 
at  the  conclusion  of  his  remarks  he  asked  the  officers  of  the 
German  church  whether  they  acknowledged  Miihlenberg's 
call  and  ordination  as  genuine.  To  this  the  elders  and  some 
others,  considering  the  question  hardly  necessary,  without 
direct  answer  replied  that  they  had  as  much  share  in  that 
call  and  mission  as  the  congregations  at  New  Hanover  and 
Providence,  and  in  answer  to  a  question  of  Kock  also  said 
that  they  never  had  either  accepted  Kraft  as  a  pastor  or  given 
him  a  call ;  and  then  with  glad  faces  they  pressed  forward, 
gave  Miihlenberg  and  Tranberg  their  right  hands,  and  in  this 
manner  on  their  part  confirmed  the  call  as  the  other  united 
congregations  had  done. 

When,  on  the  following  day,  Miihlenberg  paid  his  respects 
to  Governor  Thomas,  he  was  kindly  received,  and,  having  seen 
the  official  documents  and  credentials  of  Miihlenberg,  given 
in  Latin  and  in  English,  since  he  did  not  understand  German, 
the  governor  gave  promises  of  assistance,  while  some  unpleas- 


IO8  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

ant  remarks  which  His  Excellency  at  such  a  very  wrong 
place  and  time  allowed  himself  to  make  concerning  the  Ger- 
mans were  answered  very  happily  and  the  visit  brought  to 
an  end.  Miihlenberg  called  also  on  the  commissary  of  the 
Anglican  Church  in  Pennsylvania,  at  that  time  the  Rev.  Rob. 
Jenney,  LL.D.,  who  after  the  death  of  his  predecessor  in  the 
office,  the  Rev.  Archibald  Cummings  (died  April  17,  1741), 
for  a  time  performed  the  functions  of  the  office,  but  Jan.  4, 
1743,  was  formally  appointed  its  incumbent  by  the  l,ord  bishop 
of  London,  under  whose  care  the  congregations  and  presbyters 
in  the  American  colonies  were.  Rev.  Jenney  hoped  that  his 
relations  with  Miihlenberg  would  be  as  pleasant  as  they  had 
at  all  times  been  with  the  Swedish  missionaries. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  109 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1742  (continued']. 

Count  Zinzendorf  in  Philadelphia. — Moravian  emissaries  and  settlers  in  Pennsyl- 
vania.— Bethlehem. — The  nine  conferences  in  Pennsylvania. — The  German 
Lutherans  in  Philadelphia  before  Zinzendorf  s  arrival. — Rev.  Jac.  Fabricius. — 
Rev.  J.  Chr.  Schultze. — Rev.  J.  C.  Stoever. — Zinzendorf  and  the  German  Lu- 
theran congregation  at  Philadelphia. — Rev.  J.  Chr.  Pyrlaeus. — Rev.  Pet. 
Boehler. — Muhlenberg  meets  Count  Zinzendorf. 

ONE  great  obstacle  to  Miihlenberg's  activity  and  useful- 
ness was  removed  when  Kraft  quitted  the  field  of  labor 
to  which  Muhlenberg  had  a  legitimate  call.  The  unfortunate 
Kraft,  by  his  faults,  unspiritual  character,  and  loose  habits, 
stood  in  his  own  way,  and,  as  we  shall  find  hereafter,  lost 
his  standing  and  influence  wherever  the  necessities  of  the 
times  allowed  him  for  a  brief  period  to  occupy  the  pulpit  and 
the  pastoral  field.  But  another  antagonist,  and  one  of  a  much 
higher  order  as  to  character,  talents,  and  means,  Count  Zin- 
zendorf, had  made  inroads  upon  the  Lutheran  material  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  especially  in  Philadelphia.  Here,  adroitly 
acting  under  a  name  assumed  for  this  purpose,  and  an  official 
title  to  which  he  could  make  no  legal  claims,  he  had  since  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1742 — toward  the  end  of  which  year 
Muhlenberg  arrived — in  his  peculiar  way  influenced  the  Lu- 
therans and  induced  a  portion  of  them  to  give  him  a  "  lach- 
rymose "  call,  as  he  describes  it.  He  had  obtained  possession 
of  the  records,  the  sacred  vessels,  the  keys  to  the  money-box  of 
the  congregation;  and  in  all  this,  though  undoubtedly  intend- 
ing to  benefit  spiritually  those  who  trusted  in  him,  by  his  doc- 
trines and  methods — which,  especially  at  that  period  of  his  life, 
were  exceedingly  extravagant  and  morbid — he  had  taken  ad- 


IIO  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

vantage  of  the  ignorance  of  the  people  no  less  than  of  their 
desire  for  spiritual  food,  of  which  they,  unfortunately,  had  been 
in  want  for  a  long  time.  Zinzendorf  had  no  call  to  the  Lu- 
therans. But  through  a  number  of  years  his  emissaries  had 
informed  him  of  the  open  field  in  Pennsylvania,  and  he  knew 
that  an  answer  to  the  united  petitions  of  these  three  congre- 
gations had  been  given  in  writing,  but  that  a  pastor  had  not 
been  sent  from  Halle.  Quite  a  number  of  Moravians  arrived 
in  Pennsylvania  as  early  as  1736  and  1737.  Others  came  in 
the  following  years,  and  settled  at  various  points  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  province.  Finally,  in  1741  the  foundations  of 
Bethlehem,  the  "  American  Herrnhut,"  were  laid.  Spangen- 
berg,  who  became  at  a  later  period  bishop  and  the  restorer 
of  more  sober  and  more  sound  principles  and  practices  to  his 
brethren  in  the  faith,  arrived  in  Philadelphia  county  in  April, 
1736,  to  labor  among  the  Schwenkfelders  settled  along  the 
Schippach :  here  David  Nitschman,  coming  from  Georgia, 
had  joined  him  for  a  short  time  "  to  ascertain  the  religious 
condition  of  the  German  population."  Consequently,  Count 
Zinzendorf  was  well  informed  as  to  the  ecclesiastical  and  spirit- 
ual state  of  the  province,  and  in  addition  to  this  he  felt  a  deep 
concern  for  the  conversion  of  the  Indians.  It  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  in  those  years  Zinzendorf  and  his  adherents  had  taken 
a  decided  position  against  the  Lutheran  Church,  and  against 
the  Pietist  party  in  it  no  less  than  the  orthodox  conservative 
wing.  Yet  Zinzendorf,  when  he  arrived  in  Pennsylvania,  took 
the  attitude  of  an  inspector  and  supervisor  of  all  the  Lutheran 
congregations  in  the  province.  Moravianism  had  already  given 
proof  enough  of  being  sui  generis  y  and  its  leaders  and  members 
were  fully  convinced  that,  compared  with  the  existing  churches, 
they  presented  to  the  world  a  higher,  a  more  spiritual,  a  more 
apostolic,  and  a  more  perfect  form  of  Christianity.  Zinzen- 
dorf introduced  himself  at  Philadelphia  as  a  Lutheran,  but 
it  admits  of  no  doubt  that  he  was  trying  to  do  good  by  intro- 
ducing there  a  form  of  faith  and  life  in  various  respects  not 
Lutheran.  Showing  outwardly  a  certain  indifference  to  de- 
nominational distinctions,  and  endeavoring  to  bring  all  spir- 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  \  1 1 

itual-minded  members  of  different  ecclesiastical  bodies  into  a 
certain  higher  union,  of  course  he  could  not  offer  to  them 
anything  better  than  his  own  peculiar  views  as  they  were 
embodied  in  the  Moravianism  of  those  days.  His  efforts  in 
the  North  American  colonies  in  this  direction  ended  by  add- 
ing Moravianism  to  the  then  existing  denominations. 

Zinzendorf,  after  landing  at  New  York,  arrived  Nov.  24, 
1741,  at  Philadelphia,  consequently  just  a  year  before  Miihl- 
enberg.  He  proceeded  to  Germantown,  Schippach,  New 
Hanover;  then  to  Bethlehem,  Oley,  and  Ephrata,  the  seat 
of  the  Seventh-day  Dunkers.  The  emissaries  of  Herrnhut 
had  found  access  to  families  of  diverse  parties,  and  the  way 
was  thus  paved  for  him.  Invitations  to  a  general  conference 
composed  of  delegates  of  all  Christian  parties  were  sent  out, 
and  the  meeting  was  held  in  Germantown,  in  the  house  rented 
by  the  count,  Jan.  I,  1742.  These  representatives  of  differ- 
ent Christian  parties  did  not  meet  in  any  official  capacity. 
Practically,  this  conference  had  as  little  effect  as  eight  similar 
ones  held  in  Pennsylvania  in  1742,  though  Zinzendorf  tried 
to  attach  great  weight  to  them.  We  know  that  published 
reports  of  them  fell  into  the  hands  of  Miihlenberg  at  Charles- 
ton. During  1742,  Zinzendorf  made  three  missionary  tours 
to  the  Indians  and  preached  at  various  localities.  He  brought 
letters  of  recommendation  from  the  bishop  of  London,  but 
was  not  permitted  to  preach  in  the  Episcopal  Christ  Church 
at  Philadelphia.  It  cannot  be  said  that  the  impression  which 
he  generally  made  was  an  agreeable  one.  In  spite  of  his 
specious  humility — by  a  solemn  act  at  Philadelphia  he  even 
renounced  his  aristocratic  titles  and  allowed  himself  to  be 
called  Ludwig  Nitschmann,  or  simply  Brother  Ludwig — his 
whole  demeanor,  with  all  its  peculiarities,  savored  of  arro- 
gance ;  and  here  in  free  Pennsylvania  the  people,  and  gener- 
ally even  sincere  Christians,  were  not  disposed  to  submit  to 
his  personal  views,  feelings,  and  will.  He  was  able  by  his 
personal  appearance,  his  preaching,  and  varied  activity  to 
create  occasionally  a  transient  sensation.  But  the  compara- 
tively few  whom  he  attached  to  himself  and  to  his  cause  were, 


112  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

most  of  them,  enthusiasts,  servile,  and  of  little  mind  and  culture. 
Some  of  his  assistants,  of  whom  a  number  made  themselves 
busy  in  Lutheran  and  in  Reformed  congregations  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, created  painful  disturbances,  and  finally  established 
Moravian  congregations. 

When  Zinzendorf  arrived  in  Philadelphia  there  was  cer- 
tainly no  German  Lutheran  pastor  there.  German  Lutherans 
had  been  there  for  years.  It  is  reported  that  blind  old  Fabri- 
cius,  who  had  been  pastor  of  the  Dutch  (Hollandish)  Luther- 
an church  at  New  York,  and  from  1677  for  fourteen  years 
officiated  for  the  Swedish  Lutherans  at  Philadelphia,  had  also 
served  in  spiritual  things  the  German  Lutherans  there.  Ger- 
mantown  was  begun  by  Germans  alienated  from  the  Luther- 
an Church  in  1683.  It  appears  most  probable  that  about  that 
time  also  some  German  Lutherans  came  to  Pennsylvania  and 
landed  at  Philadelphia,  and  that  some  of  them  remained  here. 
We  know  that  in  1703  a  beginning  of  Lutheran  congrega- 
tional life  was  made  in  New  Hanover.  As  to  Philadelphia,  it 
is  well  known  that  the  Swedish  Lutheran  pastors  at  the  Wicaco 
church  occasionally  preached  to  the  German  Lutherans  in 
Philadelphia.  It  is  stated  that  the  Rev.  John  Dylander,  as 
his  duties  permitted  him,  preached  regularly  to  the  German 
Lutherans.  When  the  Rev.  J.  Chr.  Schultze  came  to  Phila- 
delphia in  1732,  he  certainly  found  at  that  time  no  organized 
congregation  of  German  Lutherans  there.  Rev.  J.  C.  Stoever, 
whom  Schultze  ordained  before  his  return  to  Germany  in 
1733,  began  in  Philadelphia,  and  also  in  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  other  localities,-  the  first  congregational  records,  and 
without  doubt  performed  services  for  the  German  Lutherans, 
here  as  well  as  in  other  places,  in  his  capacity  as  an  itinerant 
preacher.  It  is  a  fact  that  in  1735  a  man,  J.  A.  Langerfeld  of 
Halberstadt,  who  had  studied  at  Halle,  but  was  not  ordained, 
promised  to  hold  public  services  every  other  Sunday  for  the 
German  Lutherans.  How  long  he  carried  out  his  promise 
we  know  not.  It  is  possible  that  under  J.  C.  Stoever  there 
was  a  certain  organization,  elders  and  deacons.  Certain  it  is, 
that  Zinzendorf  gave  to  the  flock  of  German  Lutherans  which 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  113 

he  found  at  Philadelphia  some  sort  of  organization  and  con- 
stitution, according  to  which  essentially  all  power  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  pastor,  as  he  also,  with  some  of  his  assistants, 
organized  a  "  consistory  "  at  the  same  place.  But  we  are  safe 
in  saying  that  a  regular,  normal  organization  and  congrega- 
tional order  was  not  established  among  the  German  Luther- 
ans at  Philadelphia  before  Miihlenberg.  When  he  arrived  the 
Lutheran  congregation  was  small  in  numbers,  and  among 
them  were  at  that  time,  with  hardly  any  exception,  no  mem- 
bers blessed  with  this  world's  goods  or  maintaining  any  high 
rank  in  society. 

On  Christmas,  1741,  Zinzendorf  began  to  preach  to  the 
German  Lutherans  at  their  meeting-house.  He  may  have 
been  invited  to  do  so  by  officers  of  the  congregation,  since 
there  was  no  pastor  there,  and  the  members  would  rather 
hear  a  preacher  than  in  the  absence  of  one  have  a  printed 
sermon  read  to  them.  Every  fourth  Sunday  the  house  was 
open  to  the  German  Reformed,  of  whose  pastor,  the  Rev.  J. 
Phil.  Boehm,  Zinzendorf  had  asked  for  permission  to  preach 
there.  When,  about  the  end  of  the  Lent  season,  he  felt  that 
by  his  preaching  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  Lutheran  flock 
had  advanced  to  a  certain  degree,  on  Easter  Monday  he  cel- 
ebrated the  Lord's  Supper  with  the  congregation.  The  ser- 
mons which  he  delivered  at  Philadelphia  and  at  other  localities 
of  Pennsylvania  appeared  in  print  in  various  editions.  The 
style  is  the  German  of  those  days,  stiff,  heavy,  and  frequently 
intermixed  with  terms  taken  from  the  French.  'The  peculiar 
character  of  his  theological  views  is  strongly  brought  to  light 
by  a  sermon  delivered  at  Germantown  Dec.  20,  1741,  on  I 
Tim.  ii.  6.  He  there  describes  three  form's  of  religion  as  pre- 
sented in  the  Scriptures — the  first,  the  paternal  economy  in  the 
times  of  the  patriarchs ;  the  second,  the  regal  form,  God's  re- 
lation to  the  people  of  Israel ;  the  third  and  only  saving  one, 
the  blood-religion,  established  by  Christ.  We  willingly  ac- 
knowledge the  count's  religious  fervor,  his  talent  as  a  poet, 
to  which  the  Germans  owe  some  excellent  spiritual  songs,  and 
as  an  organizer,  for  he  gave  his  adherents  a  form  for  their 


114  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

society  which  up  to  this  time  proves  a  safeguard  against  dis- 
solution. We  also  give  him  credit  for  the  self-denying  spirit 
and  the  energy  wherewith  he  in  his  way  labored  for  the  cause 
of  Christ.  But  the  manner  in  which  he  dealt  with  some  of 
the  fundamental  truths  of  Christianity  we  cannot  approve  of, 
and  for  his  sermonizing,  which  in  those  days  offered  much 
charm  to  many  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic,  we  have  lost 
the  taste. 

Intending  to  devote  his  time  and  strength  to  the  mission 
among  the  Indians,  and  to  be  free  from  official  duties  in  a  par- 
ticular locality,  June  6,  1742,  the  count  delivered  his  farewell 
sermon  to  the  German  Lutherans  at  Philadelphia.  We  know 
that  from  the  beginning  of  his  activity  among  them  there  were 
some  who  did  not  like  his  preaching  nor  his  influence  and 
manners.  His  offers  to  serve  them  without  receiving  any 
salary,  and  to  erect  a  substantial  house  of  worship,  which  he 
fulfilled  in  the  second  half  of  the  year  1742  in  behalf  of  those 
who  clung  to  him,  were  calculated  to  silence  the  dissatisfac- 
tion of  some.  When  he  discontinued  his  services  in  the  old 
meeting-house  he  put  in  his  place  the  Rev.  John  Christopher 
Pyrlaeus,  born  of  Lutheran  parents  at  Pausa  in  Saxony,  1713, 
who  in  the  years  1733-38  had  studied  theology  at  Leipsic, 
and  then  attached  himself  to  the  Moravians.  As  a  missionary 
appointed  by  them  Pyrlaeus  came  in  1740  to  Pennsylvania, 
was  ordained  at  Oley,  married  July  10,  1742,  Susan,  youngest 
daughter  of  Zinzendorf's  host  at  Philadelphia,  the  merchant 
John  Stephen  Benezet,  and  began  to  preach  to  the  German 
Lutherans.  Like  many  in  those  days  enthusiastically  admir- 
ing Zinzendorf,  he  on  one  occasion  declared  that  he  was  as  a 
speck  of  dust  to  a  mountain  in  comparison  with  the  count. 
Zinzendorf  was  used  to  such  adulatory  terms.  Pyrlaeus  had 
no  success  in  Philadelphia.  The  Lutherans  were  loath  to 
hear  him  preach.  The  Reformed,  who  were  embittered 
against  Zinzendorf  since  he  was  reported  to  have  said  that 
the  Lutherans  should  no  longer  allow  them  to  worship  in 
the  same  building,  and  had  through  one  of  his  converts,  the 
Rev.  J.  Bechtel,  formerly  a  mechanic,  disturbed  the  congre- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  115 

gation  of  the  Rev.  J.  Ph.  Boehm  at  Germantown,  and  been 
engaged  in  a  public  controversy  with  this  high-spirited  gen- 
tleman, took  it  upon  themselves,  July  18,  1742,  forcibly,  with 
much  noise  and  tumult,  and  certainly  not  without  the  consent 
of  the  majority  of  German  Lutherans,  to  drive  Pyrlaeus  from 
the  pulpit  and  out  of  the  meeting-house.  This  lawless  act 
moved  Zinzendorf  at  once  to  repair  to  Philadelphia  to  bring 
the  matter  before  the  civil  court,  and  to  make  an  attempt  him- 
self to  preach  again  in  the  same  meeting-house.  He  met, 
however,  with  such  decisive  opposition  that  he  had  to  desist. 
When  his  new  church-building  was  finished  his  faithful  ad- 
herents worshipped  in  it — not,  however,  as  Lutherans,  but  as 
Moravians.  The  book  and  other  articles  belonging  to  the 
Lutheran  congregation  he  obstinately  retained,  until  by 
decree  of  court  they  had  to  be  restored  to  the  Lutherans. 
His  total  separation  from  the  German  Lutheran  congrega- 
tion at  Philadelphia  being  accomplished,  the  congregation 
was  without  a  pastor.  This  condition  of  things  gave  Valen- 
tin Kraft  an  opportunity  soon  after  his  arrival  to  palm  him- 
self as  pastor  upon  the  German  Lutherans. 

When  Miihlenberg  arrived  here,  Nov.  25th  of  the  same 
year,  there  existed,  of  course,  no  official  relation  whatever 
between  the  German  Lutheran  congregation  and  Zinzendorf 
and  his  adherents.  But  just  then  some  legal  questions  were 
in  dispute  between  them.  The  position  also  of  a  number  of 
individuals  and  their  relation  to  either  of  the  two  sides  were 
not  settled. 

Wednesday,  Dec.  29th,  Miihlenberg  held  the  first  meeting 
with  the  elders  and  deacons  of  the  congregation.  One  of 
the  deacons,  who  had  joined  the  Moravian  party,  now  returned 
to  -his  former  connection,  and,  with  some  other  articles  and  a 
book  of  church  records,  handed  over  the  key  to  a  chest  con- 
taining a  trifling  sum  of  money  given  in  aid  of  needy  mem- 
bers. All  the  officers  present,  seven  in  number,  now  signed 
the  call  to  Miihlenberg.  It  was  resolved  that  on  the  next 
Sunday  they  should  be  presented  to  the  congregation  as  its 
lawfully  constituted  council.  An  eighth  one  was  missing,  a 


Il6  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

brewer,  who  formerly  had  served  the  congregation  as  a  leader 
in  singing  and  as  a  reader.  He  had  followed  Zinzendorf,  and 
was  not  expected  to  return,  since,  as  was  reported,  he  had 
been  installed  in  an  office  among  the  Moravians. 

On  the  following  day  two  deacons  were  sent  to  this  brewer 
to  demand  of  him  another  book  belonging  to  the  vestry  and 
a  copper  cup  which  he  had  taken.  He  answered  that  he  had 
handed  both  of  them  to  Zinzendorf.  Before  these  two  deacons 
addressed  him  the  count  had  sent  the  Rev.  Peter  Boehler  to 
Miihlenberg  to  inform  him  that  "  he  thought  it  very  strange 
that  Miihlenberg  when  in  Philadelphia  did  not  come  to  visit 
him."  Boehler  was  of  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  born  1712,  had 
studied  theology  at  Jena,  1731-37,  joined  the  Moravians,  was 
in  the  fall  of  1737  ordained  and  sent  as  a  pastor  to  the  Mora- 
vians settled  in  the  vicinity  of  Savannah,  Ga.,  and  as  a  mis- 
sionary to  labor  among  the  negro  slaves.  He  led  the  Mora- 
vians thence  to  Pennsylvania  in  April,  1740,  and  was  for  a 
time  living  with  them  on  the  tract  of  land  then  belong- 
ing to  George  Whitefield,  but  afterward  sold  to  them. 
From  this  sale  arose  the  towns  of  Nazareth  and  Bethlehem. 
Boehler  returned,  Jan.,  1741,  to  Europe,  and  from  there,  June, 
1742,  to  Pennsylvania  with  a  colony  of  Moravians,  accom- 
panied Zinzendorf  in  September  of  that  year  on  his  tour  to 
the  Indians  on  the  Susquehanna,  and  for  a  time  had  charge 
of  English  Moravians  at  Nazareth,  and  then  at  Philadelphia. 
After  Zinzendorf's  return  to  Europe  he  was  acting  superin- 
tendent of  the  Brethren's  Church  in  America,  until  Spangen- 
berg  reappeared  here  in  Nov.,  1744.  Boehler  returned  to 
Europe,  in  his  religious  community  was  created  a  bishop, 
paid  two  more  visits  to  America,  and  was  from  1764  active 
in  the  Moravian  service  in  Germany,  England,  and  Ireland, 
and  died  at  London  Apr.  27,  1775. 

Boehler  as  an  emjssary  of  Zinzendorf  had  visited  Miihlen- 
berg already  on  Dec.  8,  1742,  and  inquired  about  his  inten- 
tions. The  close  proximity  of  Grosshennersdorf  to  Herrnhut, 
through  which  Miihlenberg  once  had  passed  in  travelling,  the 
near  relation  between  the  count  and  the  Baroness  von  Gers- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  1 1/ 

dorf,  and  other  circumstances  make  it  extremely  probable  that 
Zinzendorf  knew  of  Miihlenberg  before.  After  a  short'discus- 
sion  of  the  respective  principles  governing  each  side,  Boehler 
finished  by  saying  that  Miihlenberg  should  have  a  conversa- 
tion with  the  count.  In  the  afternoon  the  count  sent  another 
messenger,  politely  requesting  a  visit.  Miihlenberg  acceded  to 
the  proposition,  expecting  to  have  a  private  interview,  other- 
wise he  would  have  taken  two  church-officers  with  him  as 
witnesses.  But  he  was  led  into  a  large  hall  where  a  multitude 
of  Zinzendorf's  tools  and  workers  were  assembled,  the  count 
presiding  at  a  small  table.  Opposite  to  him  Miihlenberg'  was 
requested  to  take  a  seat,  and  had  to  stand  an  "  examen  rigor- 
osum."  From  Miihlenberg'  s  minute  narrative  of  the  whole 
colloquy  it  appears  that  the  count  tried  to  impress  Miihlenberg 
with  his  higher  social  and  official  rank ;  he  also  changed  dur- 
ing the  conversation  the  form  of  his  address  from  a  more 
polite  style  of  etiquette  to  one  which,  while  at  that  time  it 
was  not  directly  offensive,  served  to  place  Miihlenberg,  com- 
pared with  the  count,  in  an  inferior  social  situation.  In  Eng- 
lish this  change  cannot  be  represented.  As  this  meeting  be- 
tween these  two  remarkable  men  was  the  only  one  of  which 
we  know  and  have  a  record,  we  give  the  conversation  in  full, 
as  we  have  it  in  the  handwriting  of  Miihlenberg : 

Count.  On  what  conditions  are  you  here  ? 

M'it/ilenberg.  I  have  been  called  and  sent  here  by  the  rever- 
end the  court-preacher  Ziegenhagen  in  accordance  with  the 
commission  of  the  congregations. 

C.  What  commission  had  Ziegenhagen  ? 

M.  The  three  Lutheran  congregations  anxiously  solicited 
him  for  a  number  of  years  to  send  a  pastor.  The  copies  are 
deposited  in  Providence,  the  letters  in  London;  which,  if 
deemed  necessary,  may  at  any  time  be  printed. 

C.  When  did  the  congregations  petition  the  last  time  ? 

M.  This  I  do  not  know ;  it  can  be  found  in  the  copies. 

C.  You  [here  the  count  changes  the  form  of  his  address, 
using  the  term  "  Er"  instead  of  "  Sie  "]  must  answer  at  once 
when  the  last  letter  to  Ziegenhagen  was  written.  (To  this 


Il8  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

the  brewer  and  some  other  friends  of  the  count's  people  as- 
sented, but  said  the  last  letter   may  have  been  sent  about 

I/39-) 

M.  I  am  not  in  condition  to  answer  this  question  just  now. 
Neither  is  it  of  any  weight,  for  I  am  called,  sent,  and  accepted. 
The  deacons  and  elders  of  the  three  congregations  gave  their 
signature  to  a  "  recepisse." 

C.  Here  in  Philadelphia  there  are  no  officers  of  the  Luther- 
an congregation  to  give  signatures.  For  before  me  here  in 
this  place  the  officers  of  the  Lutheran  congregation  are  seated, 
and  there  is  no  other  Lutheran  congregation  or  church  be- 
sides the  one  we  have.  Did  you  not  see  the  church  which  we 
lately  erected  ? 

M.  I  know  nothing  of  it,  since  I  am  convinced  that  I 
preached  to  Lutherans  and  was  accepted  by  them. 

C.  Those  are  not  Lutherans,  but  rebels,  disturbers  of  the 
peace.  And  of  such  people  you  have  become  the  head,  and 
preached  to  them  in  the  house  from  which  they  expelled  my 
adjunct  Pyrlaeus.  The  rebels  must  first  come  to  us  and  beg 
pardon. 

M.  My  opinion,  count,  is  that  your  people  must  first  come 
to  us  Lutherans  and  beg  pardon  for  having  broken  the  lock 
off  of  our  church  and  commenced  the  tumult. 

C.  This  is  not  true. 

M.  This  is  quite  true,  for  this  is  the  very  reason  that  both 
parties  are  now  involved  in  a  lawsuit. 

C.  I  know  of  no  lawsuit. 

M.  Well,  indeed,  everybody  does  know  what  happened  last 
summer,  July  i8th. 

C.  Let  us  stick  to  the  subject.  At  my  last  meeting  with 
Ziegenhagen  I  asked  him  about  Pennsylvania.  He  answered 
that  he  could  not  send  any  preacher,  since  the  congregations 
were  not  willing  to  determine  the  salary.  As  Ziegenhagen 
knew  that  I  was  coming  here,  why  did  he  send  you  ? 

M.  I  am  sent  here  to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  things 
and  to  see  whether  order  can  be  established. 

C.  Herr  Ziegenhagen  is  an  arch-liar  and  hypocrite.    When 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  119 

I  am  in  his  presence  he  is  quite  humble  and  submissive ; 
when  I  am  gone  he  uses  his  tongue  and  scolds.  This  is  an- 
other trick  which  he  and  Herr  Francke  are  playing  off  on  me. 
I  shall  tell  him  of  it  when  I  reach  London. 

M.  It  is  a  shame  to  speak  of  the  absent  in  such  terms.  I 
have  often  heard  in  Germany  that  you  are  in  the  habit  of 
calling  people  L.  L.  L.  [liars].  Now,  how  can  I  avoid  be- 
lieving it  ? 

C.  I  am  informed  that  you  read  all  my  writings.  Did  you 
not  read  that  I  had  established  a  Lutheran  consistory  in 
Philadelphia  ? 

M.  I  read  in  Charleston  reports  of  seven  conferences,  and 
learned  that  a  certain  Herr  von  Thurnstein  had  occasioned  dis- 
turbances at  various  places  ;  I  did  not  know  the  Herr  Count 
had  formed  a  Lutheran  consistory. 

C.  Oh,  these  are  Jesuitical  tricks  ! 

M.  I  heard  once  in  Germany  that  you  were  installed  by  a 
Reformed  preacher  a  Moravian  bishop.  How  could  you  in 
this  capacity  form  a  Lutheran  consistory  ? 

C.  I  am  inspector  of  all  Lutheran  congregations  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  Lutheran  pastor  in  Philadelphia.  I  held  synod- 
ical  meetings  here  in  this  city  and  in  the  country.  I  have 
ordered  pastors  to  some  places,  and  one  pastor,  Caspar  Stoever, 
I  have  deposed.  [J.  C.  Stoever's  life  was  in  those  days  cer- 
tainly not  without  serious  blemish,  but  Zinzendorf  acted 
with  two  of  his  adjuncts  altogether  as  a  self-appointed  judge. 
Stoever  and  his  many  adherents  cared  very  little  for  his 
decision.] 

M.  Can  a  Reformed  preacher  give  such  authority  to  you  ? 

C.  Do  you  not  understand  the  canonical  law  ?  Do  you  not 
know  that  in  Wittenberg  the  highest  dignitary  of  the  Luther- 
an Church  is  ordained  by  a  Catholic? 

M.  But  how  is  this,  that  you  are  sometimes  a  Moravian 
bishop,  sometimes  an  inspector  and  a  Lutheran  pastor? 

C.  In  Holland  in  the  presence  of  lords  and  princes  I  re- 
signed my  episcopal  office. 

M.  You  change  frequently. 


I2O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

C.  I  have  a  call  in  writing  from  the  Lutheran  congregation 
here  in  Philadelphia,  as  also  my  adjunct  Pyrlaeus  has. 

M.  Had  your  call  the  proper  signatures  ? 

C.  There  is  no  need  of  this. 

M.  My  call  has  them.  I  shall  carry  out  my  instructions. 
If  you  find  fault  with  this,  you  can  settle  it  with  my  superiors 
in  Europe. 

C.  But  is  it  not  contrary  to  all  fairness  and  decency  that 
after  I  have  been  so  long  in  this  country  you  should  not  have 
come  to  visit  me  ?  If  you  were  sent  to  inquire  into  the  con- 
dition of  things  here,  why  did  you  not  inquire  into  my  affairs  ? 
Any  one  who  hears  that  there  is  a  consistory  and  an  inspec- 
tor in  any  place,  even  if  the  thing  be  illegal,  should  go  and 
try  to  inform  himself. 

M.  If  I,  as  a  stranger,  had  called  on  you,  you  would  not 
have  been  present.  I  was  told  you  had  gone  to  the  Indians. 
One  meets  here  with  a  good  many  parties.  To  call  on  all  of 
them  would  be  impossible  for  me.  To  the  Lutherans  I  am 
sent,  and  with  them  I  have  work  enough. 

C,  I  am  the  Lutheran  pastor ;  why  did  you  not  come  to 
me? 

M.  I  was  not  advised  to  do  so,  and  I  am  not  now. 

C.  Did  Herr  Ziegenhagen  say  that  you  should  pass  by  the 
inspector  and  Lutheran  pastor  ? 

M.  No,  sir.  This  thing  was  not  mentioned  at  all.  Herr 
Ziegenhagen  did  not  know  that  there  was  an  inspector  and  a 
Lutheran  pastor. 

C.  Did  Herr  Ziegenhagen  not  know  that  I  was  in  Pennsyl- 
vania ? 

M.  Yes,  sir. 

C.  Do  you  not  see  now,  from  this,  my  brethren,  that  this 
man  contradicts  himself  and  lies,  since  to  the  same  thing  he 
says  both  yes  and  no  ?  (The  whole  brotherhood  assented 
with  submissive  bows.) 

M.  Herr  Ziegenhagen  knew  well  enough  that  Count  Zin- 
zendorf  had  gone  to  Pennsylvania.  He  did  not  know  that,  the 
count  intended  to  be  a  Lutheran  inspector  and  pastor. 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  121 

C.  Did  you  not  know  that  I  was  inspector  and  pastor  ? 

M.  I  heard  in  Germany  that  you  went  to  Pennsylvania  with 
a  definite  intention. 

C.  What  was  that  intention  ? 

M.  You  had  certainly  an  intention. 

C.  Just  speak  out :  what  was  it  ? 

M.  I  do  not  know. 

C.  Do  you  hear,  brethren  ?     The  man  is  insane. 

M.  Not  so  quick !  In  your  answer  to  the  publication  of 
Ad.  Gross  you  say  at  the  conclusion,  "  Brethren,  I  am  now 
going  to  Pennsylvania ;  pray  the  Saviour  to  reveal  to  you  my 
intention."  Consequently,  who  can  know  what  your  purposed 
intention  was  ? 

C.  As  soon  as  I  arrive  in  London  I  will  go  to  the  arch- 
bishop [at  London  there  is  only  a  bishop]  and  tell  him  that 
I  established  order  among  the  Lutherans,  and  that  when 
order  was  established  Herr  Ziegenhagen  sent  some  one  who 
spoiled  all  and  made  confusion. 

M.  You  may  do  as  you  please.  The  fact  is,  that  you  have 
now  put  all  in  confusion.  I  hope,  with  the  help  of  God,  to 
establish  some  order. 

C.  Go  on  with  your  work.  If  you  succeed,  it  must  event- 
ually serve  for  the  increase  of  my  Church.  You  have  my 
good  wishes.  It  is  not  to  be  denied  that  you  were  a  Lutheran 
student  in  good  standing,  that  you  had  a  pastoral  charge,  as 
was  reported  to  me  nine  months  ago  from  Herrnhut.  No 
more  is  expected  of  you  than  that  you  beg  pardon,  since  you 
are  an  intruder  here  and  passed  me  by. 

M.  It  will  come  to  pass  that  you  will  be  compelled  to  beg 
pardon  of  the  whole  Lutheran  Church. 

C.  How  can  you,  a  young  parson,  a  village  preacher,  talk 
thus? 

M.  You  must  not  wax  warm. 

C.  Make  haste  to  consider  and  to  acknowledge  that  you 
have  done  wrong ;  if  not,  on  my  return  to  Germany  I  will 
make  it  all  public. 

M.  In  case  I  sin  against  God,  I  will  in  the  name  of  Christ 


122  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

beg  for  forgiveness.  But  I  do  not  see  why  I  should  beg  your 
pardon.  You  may  publish  in  Germany  what  you  please :  your 
affairs  are  well  known  there. 

C.  What  is  published  there  against  me  is  nothing  but  pas- 
quils,  to  which  no  one  ventures  to  put  his  name.  I  am  will- 
ing to  give  you  time  to  beg  my  pardon.  You  are  ambitious, 
and  that  is  the  motive  by  which  you  are  governed. 

M.  *Your  brain  is  very  fertile  in  suggestions.  Indeed,  I  find 
it  as  your  aunt  [Baroness  von  Gersdorf  at  Grosshennersdorf] 
told  me. 

C.  Say  not  a  wordfof  her  or  I  shall  be  compelled  to  expose 
her.  I  might  speak  very  differently  to  you  if  I  wanted. 

M.  I  am  willing  to  hear. 

C.  The  Hallenses  are  Pietists.  Were  you  not  educated  at 
Halle? 

M.  I  was  educated  in  Hanover,  studied  at  Gottingen,  and 
also  at  Halle.  I  am  a  Lutheran,  and  shall  so  remain. 

C.  Are  you  such  a  Lutheran  as  Herr  Ziegenhagen  ? 

M.  I  have  had  intercourse  with  him  for  some  time,  have 
become  acquainted  with  his  character,  and  hope  to  become 
more  and  more  such  a  Lutheran. 

C.  It  will  not  take  a  year,  and  I  will  bring  forward  more 
than  a  hundred  witnesses  to  prove  that  Herr  Ziegenhagen  is 
not  a  genuine  Lutheran. 

M.  Herr  Ziegenhagen  is  not  afraid  of  it,  and  will  not  be 
disturbed.  But  it  is  strange  that  you  wish  to  entrap  me  with 
your  questions  to  find  out  a  charge  against  me. 

C.  Oh,  I  am  casting  a  hook  into  your  conscience. 

M.  Not  at  all.  You  do  not  touch  my  conscience.  But  this 
I  gather  from  your  questions,  that  your  heart  is  not  sincere. 
If  you  had  a  guileless  spirit  you  would  not  put  those  ques- 
tions. 

C.  You  came  here  to  speak  about  a  church  record-book 
and  a  cup? 

M.  Yes ;  I  wanted  to  ask  whether  you  would  return  them 
or  not. 

C.  What  should  we  return  ?     Those  things  belong  to  our 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHIOR  MUHLENBER  G.  123 

Lutheran  church  and  congregation.  But  in  case  you  stand 
in  need  of  them  we  will  present  them  to  you,  provided  you 
give  a  receipt  in  writing. 

M.  I  desire  no  present  from  you.  I  only  claim  what  belongs 
to  us.  The  book  and  cup  have  been  paid  for  out  of  our  col- 
lections. (Here  I  rose  up.) 

C.  Consider  well  the  matter  of  begging  our  pardon.  Oth- 
erwise you  will  regret  it. 

M.  I  need  no  consideration.  I  do  not  acknowledge  you  as 
a  genuine  Lutheran,  much  less  as  an  inspector  or  Lutheran 
pastor. 

C.  Do  you  hear,  brethren  ?  Now  there  is  revealed  what 
the  man  has  in  his  heart.  (Now  much  murmuring  arose 
among  the  brethren,  and  hearty  assent  to  his  words  by  nod- 
ding their  heads.) 

M.  It  is  also  revealed  what  is  in  your  heart.  If  you  are 
such  a  genuine  Lutheran,  why  were  you  prevented  from 
preaching  in  the  Swedish  church  ? 

C.  Only  one  man,  Kock,  the  Swedish  merchant,  inter- 
fered. 

M.  Mr.  Kock  is  an  officer  in  the  Swedish  church.  Certainly, 
he  did  not  prevent  you  from  preaching  without  the  knowledge 
of  the  only  Swedish  pastor,  Rev.  Tranberg. 

C.  Can  you  say  that  Mr.  Tranberg  refused  me  permission  ? 

M.  I  cannot  say  it  positively.     Enough,  you  were  refused. 

C.  There,  brethren,  you  hear  it  again,  that  the  man  contra- 
dicts himself  and  lies  !  (The  assent  of  the  brethren  became  so 
strong  and  noisy  that  I  could  not  reply.) 

In  conclusion,  the  count  said :  You  will  not  preach  in  the 
Swedish  church  more  than  twice  or  thrice  before  they  cast 
you  out  as  they  did  my  adjunct,  Pyrlaeus,  from  the  old  meet- 
ing-house. 

M.  I  am  willing  to  wait.  I  wish  you  a  happy  voyage  to 
Europe.  Farewell ! 

Thus  ended  the  meeting.  P.  Kock  gave  the  advice  that  the 
officers  of  Muhlenberg's  congregation  should  demand  the  book 
through  the  city  mayor.  To  the  letter  addressed  to  him  through 


124  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

this  official  the  count  responded  in  the  following  ambiguous 
manner  (we  give  the  letter  verbatim)  : 

"SiR:  I  know  no  other  Lutheran  regular  church  in  this 
province  than  those  in  which  I  have  served  hitherto.  I  know 
of  no  book  belonging  to  others  than  to  our  church.  I  know 
no  Lutheran  parson  in  Philadelphia  but  myself,  and  who  is 
ordained  to  this  office.  I  know  no  church-wardens  but  the 
same  who  did  their  duty  faithfully.  I  shall  deliver  no  book 
except  to  the  magistrate  himself,  and  I  protest  against  which 
is  done  and  .will  be  done  to  the  prejudice  of  our  regular 
church,  founded  publicly  in  Philadelphia  last  spring.  This 
is  all  which  I  can  do  and  say.  I  am,  sir,  your  humble 
servant,  "  LODEWYK  OF  THURNSTEIN, 

"Pastor  and  Inspector  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  Philadelphia^ 

To  a  second  letter  of  the  mayor,  demanding  the  book  (the 
cup  was  no  particular  object  of  desire)  and  using  stronger 
language,  the  count  answered  declaring  his  willingness  to  de- 
liver it  to  one  of  the  church-officers.  On  the  same  day,  Dec. 
3 1st,  at  5  P.  M.,  the  count  sent  for  Daniel  Seckler,  who,  with 
the  knowledge  of  Miihlenberg  and  the  advice  of  the  mayor, 
Mr.  Till,  went  to  him,  but  was  told  by  the  count  that  the 
mayor  had  commanded  him  to  deliver  the  book,  otherwise  he 
would  not  be  allowed  to  leave  the  city ;  but  that,  indeed,  he 
knew  of  no  book,  could  not  say  where  it  was  hidden,  and 
could  not  deliver  it ;  one  or  the  other  of  the  officers  might 
have  it.  The  count's  behavior  in  this  whole  transaction  was 
worse  than  charlatanism.  On  the  following  day,  Jan.  I,  1743, 
he  left  Philadelphia,  at  New  York  took  ship  for  England, 
arrived  by  the  way  of  Yorkshire  at  London,  and  in  March 
preached  during  a  number  of  days  in  the  Moravian  chapel  in 
Fetter  lane,  James  Hutton  acting  as  his  interpreter.  His 
threats  against  Miihlenberg  he  never  carried  out. 

No  one  acquainted  with  the  history  of  Zinzendorf  s  life 
and  labors  can  doubt  the  sincerity  of  his  Christian  convic- 
tions. It  was  not  an  empty  phrase  or  hypocrisy  when  he 
called  Jesus  his  "  only  passion."  No  man  sacrificed  more 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  12$ 

of  his  worldly  goods,  of  his  social  standing,  of  the  ordinary 
comforts  of  life  to  the  cause  of  Christ  than  he  did.  But, 
admitting  all  this,  we  feel  sorry  that  he  not  only  very  erro- 
neously and  frequently  took  his  personal  views  and  feelings 
for  divine  revelations,  but  expected  others  to  consider  him  a 
kind  of  infallible  oracle,  allowed  their  undue  adulations,  and 
used  very  doubtful  means  for  mere  show  and  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  plans.  There  is  no  blame  to  be  attached  to 
him  for  his  interest  in  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  German 
settlers  in  Pennsylvania.  But  that  before  sailing  for  the  New 
World  he  formally  and  ostentatiously  relinquished  his  dignity 
as  bishop  of  the  Moravians  to  find  access  to  the  Lutherans  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  thus  pretended  to  have  official  authority 
over  the  Lutheran  congregations  while  his  peculiar  Moravian 
principles,  views,  tastes,  and  manners  of  working  were  with 
him  of  supreme  interest,  this  cannot  be  successfully  defended. 
Zinzendorf,  after  1736  bishop  of  the  Moravians  as  a  separate 
ecclesiastical  body,  had  formally  disconnected  himself  from 
the  Lutheran  Church  as  an  ecclesiastical  organization.  What 
a  pretence  that  he  appointed  himself  inspector  of  the  Lutheran 
churches  in  Pennsylvania !  It  was  done  for  stage-effect  when, 
as  James  Logan,  secretary  of  Pennsylvania  tells  us,  "  he  framed 
an  instrument  to  resign  all  his  honors  and  dignities  to  some 
relative Several  gentlemen,  Governor  Thomas,  Wil- 
liam Allen,  recorder  of  the  city,  Th.  Lawrence,  one  of  the 
governor's  council,  Dr.  Patrick  Bard,  the  governor's  secretary, 
James  Hamilton,  prothonotary  of  the  court  of  common  pleas, 
Rev.  En.  Ross,  pastor  of  Episc.  Christ  Church  at  Philadel- 
phia, Mr.  Benezet,  Rev.  Pyrlaeus,  and  others,  met,  when  he 
"read  the  instrument ;  he  gave  each  of  them  a  printed  copy, 
but  after  all  withdrew  his  papers  and  also  himself,  saying, 
on  reflection,  he  must  first  advise  with  some  of  his  friends 
in  Germany."  Such  proceedings  only  served  to  give  these 
sober  citizens  of  Philadelphia  and  others  the  impression  that 
the  count  had  a  mind  not  well  balanced.  Miihlenberg  with 
his  straightforward,  honest,  and  manly  character  could  not  fail 
to  be  offended  by  the  tortuous,  insincere  ways  used  by  a  man 


126  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

who  'fully  knew  the  principles  of  Christ,  but  to  accomplish 
his  designs  made  use  of  means  unworthy  of  himself  and  detri- 
mental to  the  cause  he  defended.  We  cannot  but  admire  the 
decisive  manner  of  Miihlenberg  in  his  conversation  with  the 
count.  Instead  of  being  frightened  by  the  situation  purposely 
arranged  by  Zinzendorf,  and  by  the  supercilious  arrogance 
of  the  man,  "he  carried  the  war  into  Africa,"  and  the  count 
was  compelled  to  listen  to  such  plain  words  as  probably  he  had 
never  heard  before.  And  so  little  did  Miihlenberg  lose  his- 
temper  that  the  count  himself  in  his  remarks  to  others  ad- 
mitted that  Miihlenberg  had  on  that  occasion  behaved  with 
commendable  moderation.  On  some  other  occasion  also  he 
could  not  avoid  endorsing  his  character  as  a  Christian  and  as 
a  pastor,  though  this  did  not  prevent  him  from  describing  his 
rival  as  a  heretic  in  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  Tranberg. 

Miihlenberg  would  rather  have  avoided  any  collision  with 
Zinzendorf.  But  faithfully  to  carry  out  his  mission  and  trust 
he  could  not  allow  the  rest  of  the  German  Lutheran  con- 
gregation at  Philadelphia,  which  placed  a  confidence  in  the 
count's  intentions  and  arrangements,  to  be  dispersed.  In  the 
Lutheran  field  the  count  was  an  intruder,  and  the  Lutheran 
cause,  for  which  he  pretended  so  deep  an  interest,  had  in  him 
a  friend  more  dangerous  than  an  open  foe.  Miihlenberg  could 
discriminate  well  between  a  Zinzendorf  and  a  Valentin  Kraft. 
But  the  Lutheran  congregations,  as  such,  were  no  less  in  dan- 
ger in  the  hands  of  the  one  than  in  those  of  the  other.  With 
the  same  cool  firmness  he  withstood  both  of  them.  When 
Kraft  had  returned  to  the  city,  and  proposed  in  the  afternoon 
of  Sunday,  Jan.  2,  1743,  to  preach  in  the  old  meeting-house, 
Miihlenberg  took  the  keys  and  kept  them,  little  caring  for 
the  murmuring  of  some  who  sentimentally  pitied  Kraft,  sim- 
ply declaring  that  order  must  be  sustained  and  that  Kraft 
had  no  rightful  claims ;  whereupon  Kraft  fell  into  a  consider- 
able rage,  gave  himself  the  low  satisfaction  of  becoming  intoxi- 
cated, associated  openly  with  unworthy  individuals,  some  of 
them  former  schoolmasters,  at  that  time  here  and  there  acting 
the  part  of  pastors.  He  left  the  city,  and  by  his  scandalous 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  1 2  / 

life  justified  more  and  more  the  course  which  Muhlenberg 
had  taken.  On  that  same  Sunday,  after  having  preached  on 
the  preceding  day,  Jan.  1st,  morning  and  afternoon,  in  the 
Swedish  church  to  "  our  Lutherans,"  Miihlenberg  again 
preached  in  the  same  locality  and  formally  installed  the 
elders  and  deacons  of  his  congregation.  Using  his  habitual 
openness,  he  said  that  these  men  were  by  no  means  without 
fault,  but  they  were  a  fair  representation ;  for  as  was  the  con- 
gregation so  also  were  the  officers,  and  vice  versa :  they  all 
needed  improvement.  He  reminded  both  sides  of  their  duties, 
and  finally  called  out  the  members  to  show  their  acquiescence 
by  giving  their  hands  to  the  officers. 

That  a  man  of  such  decided  character  and  resolute  meas- 
ures would  rouse  the  hatred  of  all  with  whose  interests  or 
conduct  he  interfered  needs  no  proof.  Some  malicious  indi- 
viduals even  laid  a  scheme  to  defame  Miihlenberg's  character. 
The  low  moral  standing  of  the  person  who  was  to  be  used  as 
a  witness  was  fortunately  discovered  in  good  time,  and  she 
had  to  beg  Miihlenberg's  pardon  publicly  in  the  church  be- 
fore the  assembled  congregation.  Kraft  made  efforts  to 
arouse  hostility  against  Muhlenberg  among  the  Lutherans  at 
Germantown  and  Philadelphia.  Schmidt,  the  quack  doctor, 
made  a  feeble  attempt  to  organize  a  separate  congregation 
near  New  Hanover.  J.  C.  Stoever,  in  those  years  not  at  all 
exemplary  as  a  pastor  in  his  walk  and  conversation,  and  some- 
what rough  and  censurable  all  his  life,  tried  to  influence  the 
people  by  declaiming  against  Ziegenhagen  and  Muhlenberg, 
the  inspiration  for  this  coming,  most  probably,  from  the  worthy 
Valentin  Kraft. 


CHAPTER    IX. 
1743- 

Miihlenberg  enters  upon  his  pastoral  work  in  the  three  united  congregations. — He 
opens  schools  at  Providence  and  New  Hanover,  and  maintains  church  disci- 
pline.— Halle  Reports, — Charitable  gifts  from  Germany. — Miihlenberg's  unsel- 
fish labors  appreciated. — Resolutions  passed  at  Providence  and  at  Philadelphia 
to  erect  churches ;  at  Hanover,  to  build  a  school-house. 

WE  perceive  that  Miihlenberg  entered  upon  his  legiti- 
mate field  of  labor  under  very  peculiar  circumstances. 
He  had,  indeed,  to  begin  his  pastoral  work  against  pronounced 
libertinism  on  the  one  side,  wild  fanaticism  on  the  other,  both 
of  which  had  representatives  preoccupying  the  field  and  try- 
ing to  maintain  it.  A  few  weeks  were  sufficient  to  demon- 
strate the  power  of  a  lawful,  just  claim  against  usurpation; 
the  might  of  a  firm,  blameless,  honest  character  against  frivo- 
lous or  .sanctimonious  presumption ;  the  triumph  of  law  and 
order  over  lawlessness  and  arbitrary  conduct.  Of  course, 
similar  foes,  as  well  as  difficulties  of  a  totally  different  cha- 
racter, were  yet  to  be  conquered.  In  fact,  a  pastor  can  never 
Iky  aside  his  spiritual  weapons  of  attack  and  defence.  And 
no  one  knew  better  or  experienced  more  thoroughly  that  he 
was  living  and  laboring  in  the  "  ecclesia  militans  "  than  Muhl- 
enberg. 

Yet  we  may  well  imagine  that  he  felt  thankful  and  greatly 
relieved  when  the  three  congregations  to  whom  he  was  sent 
acknowledged  him  as  their  legitimate  pastor,  and  learned  to 
esteem  and  to  love  him  more  and  more.  And  with  a  firm 
will  and  an  unreserved  devotion  he  began  and  continued  his 
pastoral  work.  Various  symptoms  of  awakening  life  and  a 
vigorous  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  souls  entrusted  to  his 
care  did  much  to  encourage  and  to  make  him  cheerful  in 
his  work. 

128 


HENRY  MEL CHIOR  MUHLENBERG. 

On  Tuesday,  Jan.  4th,  the  officers  of  the  congregation  at 
Providence  appeared  with  a  horse  for  Muhlenberg,  and  con- 
ducted him  to  their  houses.  In  harmony  with  the  practice  of 
the  Lutheran  Church  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  he  celebrated 
Epiphany  with  the  congregation  on  the  following  day.  On  the 
6th  of  January  he  began  to  give  instruction  to  the  children. 
For  some  years  public  services  had  been  held  in  the  barn  al- 
ready mentioned.  The  officers  of  the  church  began  even  then, 
so  soon  after  the  arrival  of  Muhlenberg,  to  consider  the  ques- 
tion of  erecting  a  church-building.  It  seems  that  a  frame 
school-house  was  at  once  erected.  Wood  was,  however, 
not  a  lasting  material,  and,  as  Muhlenberg  writes,  "  soon 
decays  in  this  country."  It  was  therefore  resolved  to  use 
freestone  in  the  erection  of  a  church.  This  would,  of  course, 
occasion  a  heavier  outlay.  But  the  number  of  attendants  at 
public  services  greatly  increasing,  and  the  members  showing 
a  praiseworthy  liberality,  there  was  much  encouragement. 
Muhlenberg  says  that  the  people  had  no  want  of  the  neces- 
sary provisions,  but  money  was  scarce  among  them,  since  they 
were  obliged  to  carry  their  produce  to  Philadelphia,  and  did 
not  there  get  remunerative  prices. 

From  the  7th  .to  the  I5th  of  January,  Muhlenberg  contin- 
ued his  work  at  New  Hanover.  In  a  very  unselfish  but  ef- 
fective manner  he  now  opened  the  campaign  against  those 
frauds  who  called  themselves  pastors  and  were  found  in 
many  localities  throughout  the  settled  parts  of  the  province, 
and  who  tried  everywhere  to  counteract  the  influence  of  men 
like  Muhlenberg,  while  they  used  the  sacred  office  simply  with 
a  view  to  make  money  and  to  drag  out  a  scandalous  existence, 
to  the  disgrace  and  detriment  of  the  Church.  Let  us  hear 
what  Muhlenberg  in  his  diary  says  on  this  subject:  "Sunday, 
Jan.  Qth,  I  preached  at  New  Hanover  to  a  large  assembly;  had 
also  to  baptize  before  the  congregation  after  preaching.  Learn- 
ing that  the  schoolmasters  already  described  intended  to  estab- 
lish at  various  places  opposition  congregations,  I  announced 
to  the  congregations  that  they  were  not  to  pay  anything  for 
having  their  children  baptized,  and  also  that  at  the  celebration 


I3O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

of  the  Lord's  Supper  they  should  lay  no  money  on  the  altar 
for  the  pastor.  Since  those  vagabonds  (infesting  German  con- 
gregations and  calling  themselves  pastors,  of  whom  we  shall 
hear  more  anon),  when  baptizing  or  administering  the  Lord's 
Supper,  care  only  for  the  money,  produce  nothing  but  strife, 
and  in  doing  so  give  occasion  to  the  sects  to  slander,  I  abol- 
ished that  abominable  custom,  considering  that  there  is  no 
need  to  pay  the  pastor's  salary  just  at  the  occasion  of  sacred 
services ;  but  any  one  who  desires  to  give  his  share  to  the 
necessary  support  of  the  pastor  can  easily  find  a  more  suit- 
able time  and  occasion.  Since  ignorance  among  the  youth  is 
great  in  this  country,  and  good  schoolmasters  are  very  rarely 
found,  I  had  to  take  this  matter  also  into  my  hands.  Those 
who  might  possibly  teach  the  children  to  read  are  lazy  and 
given  to  drink,  use  all  sorts  of  books  to  make  their  sermons, 
waste  their  time,  preach,  and  administer  the  Lord's  Supper 
merely  to  get  cash  in  hand.  It  is  a  shocking  sin  and  shame. 
I  requested  the  congregation  to  send  me  first  the  older  chil- 
dren, as  I  intended  to  go  about  among  the  three  congrega- 
tions, remaining  in  each  successively  one  week.  On  the  fol- 
lowing day,  Monday,  Jan.  loth,  the  parents  brought  me  some 
of  their  children.  It  does  not  look  very  .promising  to  see 
youths  of  seventeen,  eighteen,  nineteen,  twenty  years  of  age 
appear  with  the  A-B-C  book.  Yet  I  rejoice  in  seeing  the 
desire  to  learn  something.  Singing  also  has  totally  died  out 
among  the  young  people." 

These  words  give  Us  a  clear  insight  into  the  condition  of 
things,  the  evils  Miihlenberg  had  to  contend  with,  and  the 
animus  he  carried  into  the  work  before  him.  That  he  at  once 
began  to  some  extent  to  fill  the  office  of  the  school-teacher 
made  his  services  eminently  valuable  to  the  rising  generation, 
and  brought  him  nearer  to  them — a  matter  of  the  highest  im- 
portance. In  addition  to  the  German  language — which  even 
in  our  times  is  the  ordinary  medium  among  thousands  of  the 
population  of  Eastern  Pennsylvania — he  had  to  teach  also 
the  English.  He  says :  "  Some  young  fellows  came  to  the 
school  who  wished  to  learn  the  English.  This  also  affords 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  131 

me  an  opportunity  to  do  some  good.  I  read  with  them  the 
New  Testament  in  English."  The  frame  church-building 
at  New  Hanover  was  at  that  time  used,  though  it  was  not  yet 
quite  finished.  It  was  resolved  to  erect  a  school-house.  Some 
members  at  once  gave  in  their  names  as  contributors  for  this 
purpose. 

Having  on  Saturday,  Jan.  I5th,  returned  to  Providence, 
Muhlenberg  met  with  the  officers  of  the  church  and  inquired 
into  the  character  of  those  who  had  handed  in  their  names  to 
them  as  participants  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  to  be  celebrated 
here  the  following  day.  This  indicates  his  respect  for  proper 
discipline  in  the  congregation  and  his  interest  in  the  individ- 
ual souls.  Throughout  the  whole  of  his  protracted  career  as  a 
pastor  he  proved  himself  conscientiously  faithful  also  in  such 
apparently  minor  things.  This  is  amply  demonstrated  by  the 
large  number  of  narratives  about  individual  cases  which  came 
under  his  pastoral  observation,  and  are  embodied  in  his  reports 
periodically  sent  to  Halle,  and  there  published  under  the  title, 
"  Reports  from  the  United  German  Evangelical  Lutheran  Con- 
gregations in  North  America,  principally  in  Pennsylvania,"  and 
gratuitously  distributed  among  those  who  took  an  interest  in 
the  growing  German  Lutheran  congregations  in  Pennsylva- 
nia and  charitably  assisted  this  mission-work.  These  chari- 
table gifts  were  in  those  days  indispensably  needed,  not  only 
to  sustain  to  some  extent  the  missionaries,  of  whom  Muhlen- 
berg was  the  leader  or  the  pioneer,  but  also  to  assist  in  the 
erection  of  churches  and  school- houses,  in  the  distribution  of 
Christian  literature,  and  in  other  useful  purposes.  The  ac- 
counts for  this  extensive  interest,  kept  in  Halle  under  the 
supervision  of  the  directors  of  the  great  charitable  institutions 
in  that  place,  clearly  show  that  considerable  active  sympathy 
was  given  to  the  young  Lutheran  Church  growing  up  in  the 
far-off  land  in  the  West  and  to  its  struggling  congregations. 
The  reports  sent  from  Pennsylvania,  showing  the  work  there 
undertaken  by  the  missionaries,  its  difficulties,  impediments, 
and  progress,  were  calculated  to  keep  up  the  interest  in  the 
work  and  secure  the  benefactions  of  godly  souls  in  the  Father- 


132  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

land.  These  reports  form  the  main  substance  of  the  Halle 
Reports,  that  most  important  source  of  the  history  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  this  country,  published  from  time  to  time 
in  sixteen  continuations  from  the  year  1745,  and  finally  com- 
piled and  re-edited  in  two  volumes  in  1787,  the  year  of  the 
death  of  H.  M.  Miihlenberg,  by  Rev.  J.  L.  Schulze,  D.  D., 
professor  at  the  Halle  University  and  one  of  the  directors 
of  the  Francke  Orphan-House.  The  contributions  of  Miihl- 
enberg form  the  most  prominent  and  most  important  part  of 
those  reports. 

When,  on  January  i6th,  Miihlenberg  again  preached  at 
Providence,  the  concourse  of  the  people  was  so  great  that  he 
had  to  hold  public  service  under  the  open  sky.  After  preach- 
ing he  held  preparatory  services,  confession  of  sins,  and  abso- 
lution, and  then  the  Lord's  Supper.  There  was  deep  feeling) 
accompanied  with  many  tears,  among  those  present.  Finally, 
he  baptized  a  child.  As  many  Anabaptists  were  present, 
he  explained  the  meaning  of  paedobaptism.  When  he  an- 
nounced that  during  the  coming  week  he  intended  to  instruct 
the  children,  a  rivalry  broke  out  between  two  members,  each 
of  whom  desired  to  board  him  and  to  have  the  school  in  his 
house.  He  poured  oil  upon  the  troubled  waters  by  saying 
that  he  would  be  in  the  one  house  in  the  morning,  in  the 
other  in  the  afternoon,  the  distance  between  them  being  one 
mile  and  a  half.  It  seems  that  there  was  no  lack  of  provisions ; 
the  people  loaded  him  down  with  their  good  things,  and  he 
says,  "They  do  not  know  how  to  make  their  good-will  toward 
me  sufficiently  manifest."  These  things,  trifling  as  they  are, 
show  us  how  valuable  his  services  appeared  to  the  people. 
It  certainly  was  an  encouraging  sign  that  in  a  short  time 
one  hundred  pounds  were  subscribed  toward  the  building  of 
the  church. 

In  consequence  of  preaching  under  the  open  sky  whilst  the 
cold  winds  of  January  were  blowing,  Miihlenberg  contracted 
a  severe  cold,  which  seriously  affected  his  throat — an  evil  to 
which  he  was  frequently  subject  through  the  course  of  his 
life.  He  nevertheless  opened  his  school  on  Monday,  January 


HENRY  MELCHIOR   MUHLENBERG.  133 

1 7th.  At  noon  the  officers  of  his  congregation  came,  accom- 
panied by  some  members  of  the  Reformed  Church.  Among 
the  Lutherans  a  proposal  to  build  a  church  had  already  been 
discussed  here  and  there.  The  Reformed  wanted  to  have  a 
share  in  this  undertaking,  and  corresponding  privilege  to  use 
at  certain  stipulated  times  the  building  for  their  services.  For 
this  reason  they  desired  to  consult  with  Muhlenberg.  They 
were  willing  to  assist  in  building  the  church.  They  were  told 
that  there  were  two  ways  possible — the  way  of  equity  and  the 
way  of  charity :  if  they  claimed  a  certain  portion  of  the 
rights,  they  Would  have  to  pay  a  proportional  share  of  the 
expenses.  To  this  they  would  not  consent,  since  they  were 
few  in  numbers.  The  other  way,  the  way  of  charity,  was 
this :  that  if  they  would  now  as  good  neighbors  assist  to 
some  extent  in  building  this  church,  the  Lutherans  would 
put  it  in  their  written  records  for  the  succeeding  generation ; 
if,  however,  during  the  present  generation  they  were  able 
and  willing  to  erect  a  church-building,  the  Lutherans  would 
not  stand  back,  but  assist  them.  In  this, way  the  building  of 
a  so-called  union  church,  so  often  the  cause  of  disunion  and 
other  attendant  evils,  was  avoided  and  good  feeling  between 
the  two  sides  preserved.  The  Reformed  of  Providence  and  of 
an  extended  district  in  the  neighborhood  were  in  those  days 
under  the  care  of  the  Rev.  G.  M.  Weiss,  who  had  arrived 
from  Europe  in  the  year  1727,  and  settled  the  same  year  at 
Schippach,  four  miles  south  of  Providence.  With*  him  about 
four  hundred  immigrants  had  arrived,  many  of  whom  settled 
in  the  same  neighborhood,  organized  under  Weiss  a  congre- 
gation, and  immediately  built  a  frame  church.  He  was 
sent  as  a  missionary  by  the  authorities  of  the  Reformed 
Church  in  the  Palatinate.  In  two  years  he  moved  to  Goshen- 
hoppen,  Montgomery  county,  Pa. 

Muhlenberg  had  intended  to  continue  during  that  week  his 
instruction  of  the  children  at  Providence.  But  as  two  of  the 
officers  of  the  congregation  at  Philadelphia  had  come  and 
requested  his  presence  there,  he  was  obliged  to  go  with  them. 
In  cold,  stormy  weather  he  arrived  on  Tuesday  evening  in  the 


134  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

city.  During  the  preceding  week  two  ships  had  arrived  there 
from  London.  He  learned  that  one  of  the  ships  had  brought 
two  boxes  which  nobody  claimed.  It  was  found  that  they  were 
directed  to  him,  and  contained  a  large  number  of  books  and 
a  quantity  of  medicines  sent  from  the  drug-store  connected 
with  the  Orphan-House  at  Halle.  The  medicines  prepared 
there  were  of  high  renown  in  those  days,  sold  in  all  lands, 
and  formed  an  important  source  of  income  to  the  charitable 
institutions  at  Halle.  Muhlenberg  rejoiced  especially  in  the 
possession  of  the  books.  Many  of  them  were  of  a  popular 
edifying  character.  He  sold  them  at  cheap  prices  among  the 
members  of  the  three  congregations.  But  the  more  important 
subject  now  before  him  was  that  here  also  the  members  of 
his  flock  were  engaged  in  efforts  to  build  a  church.  Other 
denominations  had  their  churches;  should  the  German  Lu- 
therans of  this  city  be  without  one?  Muhlenberg  was  fully 
convinced  that  the  progress  of  the  congregation  depended 
greatly  on  the  possession  of  a  church-edifice.  The  members 
took  great  interest  in  the  matter,  and  more  than  two  hundred 
pounds  (Pennsylvania  pounds,  three  of  which  were  about  equal 
to  eight  dollars)  were  subscribed  before  Easter,  1743.  A 
proper  locality  for  the  building  to  be  erected  was  found  and 
bought.  It  was  the  north-east  corner  of  Fifth  street  and 
Appletree  alley,  north  of  the  present  Arch  street.  There  was 
also  next  to  the  church  the  cemetery. 

Sunday,  Jan.  24th,  in  the  afternoon,  Muhlenberg  again 
preached  to  his  German  Lutherans  in  the  Swedish  church, 
and  on  Monday,  accompanied  by  some  church-officers,  re- 
turned to  Providence,  where  on  Tuesday,  the  memorial  day 
of  the  Conversion  of  St.  Paul,  he  held  public  services.  He 
states  that  one  of  the  self-appointed  preachers,  a  former 
schoolmaster,  was  present,  and  after  the  services  told  Muhl- 
enberg that  he  intended  to  leave  that  neighborhood  and  not 
to  be  henceforth  in  his  way ;  he,  however,  desired  Muhlen- 
berg to  ordain  him,  as  he  had  a  call  from  a  number  of  people 
higher  up  in  the  country :  he  had  a  single  Latin  phrase  at  his 
command  as  a  proof  of  his  qualifications.  Muhlenberg  told 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  135 

him  that  he  had  no  authority  to  ordain  him,  and  would  not 
act  against  Church  order ;  at  the  same  time,  he  advised  him 
to  devote  himself  again  to  teaching,  to  instructing  children  to 
/ead  and  to  learn  and  understand  the  Catechism.  He  himself 
during  the  rest  of  the  week  continued  to  give  instruction  to 
the  young  people,  who  exhibited  an  encouraging  zeal,  and 
•yas  pleased  to  see  the  members  of  the  congregation  bring- 
ing load  after  load  of  stones  for  the  intended  church-build- 
ing. Saturday,  Jan.  29th,  in  stormy  weather,  he  went  to  New 
Hanover,  where  he  held  services  on  Sunday.  On  Wednesday 
morning  he  hurried  off  to  Providence,  and,  as  the  day  was 
the  memorial  day  of  the  Purification  of  St.  Mary,  preached 
there  in  the  afternoon.  We  see  that,  in  harmony  with  the 
custom  of  Germany,  some  of  the  saints'  days  were  then  held 
by  the  Lutheran  Church  in  the  American  provinces. 

In  New  Hanover  the  church-officers  had  a  difficulty  among 
themselves  and  with  some  other  members  of  the  congrega- 
tion. Some  wished  to  build  a  school-house,  and  under  the 
same  roof  a  parsonage.  Others  opposed  this  plan,  saying 
that  the  pastor  should  not  be  disturbed  by  the  noise  of  chil- 
dren, but  ought  to  be  by  himself;  they  would  rather  build  the 
parsonage  after  some  time,  and  buy  at  the  same  time  a  piece 
of  ground  for  the  benefit  of  the  pastor,  but  now  erect  a  school- 
house  of  moderate  dimensions.  Having  returned  on  Friday, 
Feb.  4th,  from  Providence  to  New  Hanover,  Miihlenberg 
held  on  Saturday  a  meeting  with  the  vestry  and  the  congre- 
gation, which  he  opened  and  closed  with  prayer.  Various 
propositions  were  laid  before  the  meeting.  He  was  asked 
for  his  views  on  each  of  them,  but  requested  the  individual 
members  to  give  the  congregation  the  benefit  of  their  opin- 
ions. The  voting  on  the  subject  before  them  proceeded  in 
good  order.  In  a  few  hours  everything  was  finished,  and  a 
contract  with  a  carpenter  entered  into,  one  item  of  which  was 
that  the  building  of  the  school-house  was  to  be  begun  in  May. 
The  meeting  adjourned  in  peace,  joy,  and  harmony.  The 
officers  having  on  this  occasion  presented  their  accounts, 
the  congregation  requested  Miihlenberg  henceforth  to  have 


136  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

an  oversight  over  the  account-books.  Sunday,  Feb.  6th,  he 
preached  to  a  large  assembly,  gathered  in  and  outside  of  the 
church,  on  the  parable  of  the  Sower,  Luke  viii.  4-15.  On 
this  occasion  a  certain  female,  the  daughter  of  a  widow  who 
had  been  in  the  house  of  an  English  Quaker,  where  during  a 
sojourn  of  fifteen  years  she  had  forgotten  her  German  moth- 
er-tongue without  acquiring  any  religious  knowledge,  came 
forward  and  gave  in  the  English  language  sufficient  proof  in 
the  presence  of  the  congregation  that  within  a  few  weeks, 
under  the  tuition  of  Miihlenberg,  she  had  made  satisfactory 
progress  in  Christian  knowledge.  On  a  profession  of  faith 
and  after  proper  examination  she  was  confirmed  by  him  and 
received  from  him  the  Lord's  Supper.  This  opportunity  Miihl- 
enberg made  use  of  for  a  special  and  impressive  admonition 
to  the  whole  assembly,  after  which  he  at  once  set  out  for 
Providence,  preached  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day  to  a 
large  gathering,  installed  six  elders,  whose  names  he  had  at 
his  last  visit  given  to  the  congregation,  requesting  those  who 
objected  to  any  of  them  to  come  forward.  Nobody  having 
objected,  he  proceeded  with  the  act,  and  closed  with  special 
prayer.  It  appears  that  he  selected  the  persons  himself — a 
manner  of  choosing  church-officers  which  was  in  use  for  a 
number  of  years  in  Lutheran  congregations.  On  Tuesday, 
Feb.  1st,  in  the  New  Hanover  congregation  he  was  called 
upon  to  attend  the  funeral  of  a  member  who  had  sud- 
denly died,  leaving  five  children,  not  one  of  whom,  though 
the  oldest  had  reached  its  twenty-fifth  year,  had  received 
Christian  instruction  or  had  been  confirmed.  Miihlenberg 
had  a  ride  of  four  miles  to  the  house  whence  the  funeral 
started.  "  There  they  put  the  corpse  upon. a  wagon,  and  all 
who  could  followed  it  through  the  thicket.  As  various  sorts 
of  people  were  at  the  house,  I  addressed  them.  Then  we 
proceeded  to  the  church.  I  almost  met  with  a  mishap,  as 
the  people  had  put  me  on  a  wild  colt.  After  the  ceremo- 
nies I  preached  a  funeral  sermon.  Such  occasions  must 
be  improved,  when  the  natural  feelings  are  favorably  im- 
pressed." 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  137 

We  have  thus  far  purposely  gone  into  considerable  detail 
as  to  Miihlenberg's  first  steps  and  experiences  in  his  new  and 
unusually  difficult  field  of  labor.  We  have  gained  a  nearer 
insight  into  the  peculiarities  of  his  situation,  and  into  those 
qualities  which  so  eminently  fitted  him  for  that  trying  posi- 
tion. There  was  united  to  the  dignity  of  his  whole  deport- 
ment and  to  the  seriousness  of  his  official  character  a  certain 
irresistible  charm  which  attracted  others  to  him  in  such  a 
manner  that,  while  they  felt  his  superiority,  they  loved  him 
and  now  took  courage,  since  they  saw  that  without  the  least 
personal  vanity,  without  any  egotistic  interest,  he  magnified 
his  office,  which,  through  the  shameful  behavior  of  selfish, 
mean  pretenders  in  those  parts  and  days,  had  been  brought 
into  contempt.  He  himself  found  the  best  reward  for  'his 
exertions  in  the  signs  of  a  new  and  better  life  stirring  among 
his  people.  Such  a  position  would  have  been  intolerable 
to  many  a  man  of  literary  education  and  of  refined  taste 
among  people  who  for  years  had  been  deprived  of  the 
proper  spiritual  care  and  of  educational  agencies  and  instru- 
mentalities. But  it  seems  that  for  that  very  position  Provi- 
dence had  in  various  ways  prepared  him  in  advance,  and  he 
found  satisfaction  not  in  such  pleasures  and  interests  as  the 
world  desires,  but  in  being  useful  and  making  himself  valu- 
able to  others. 


138  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER   X. 
1743-1745- 

Difficulty  in  doing  justice  to  the  three  united  congregations. — External  circum- 
stances of  Miihlenberg's  office. — His  sphere  of  action  begins  to  extend. — 
The  west  side  of  the  Schuylkill. — Germantown. — Tulpehoken. — Conrad 
Weiser. — Casp.  Leutbecker. — A.  Eschenbach. — Zinzendorf  s  interest  in  Tul- 
pehoken.— G.  Buttner. — J.  Ph.  Meurer. — Corner-stone  of  Christ  Church  laid. 
• — Miihlenberg's  first  visit  to  Tulpehoken.: — Rev.  Tob.  Wagner. — J.  C.  An- 
dreae. — Miihlenberg's  interest  is  claimed  in  behalf  of  the  Lutheran  congrega- 
tions on  the  Upper  Raritan,  N.  J. — J.  A.  Wolf  and  his  troubles.— Rev.  W. 
Chr.  Berkenmeier.— Rev.  M.  Chr.  Knoll. 

DURING  the  years  1743  and  1744,  Miihlenberg  continued 
as  the  only  pastor  and  laborer  in  the  three  congrega- 
tions united  under  him.  The  work,  though  encouraging  in 
various  respects,  was  a  very  laborious  one.  In  each  of  those 
congregations  the  erection  of  buildings — in  New  Hanover  a 
school-house,  in  Providence  and  Philadelphia  churches — occa- 
sioned much  care  and  attention,  which  to  a  large  extent  fell 
upon  the  shoulders  of  the  pastor.  The  necessity  of  going  on 
horseback  week  after  week  from  one  of  the  congregations  to 
another,  not  counting  casualties,  which  often  called  for  addi- 
tional travel,  consumed  much  time  and  strength,  and  on 
bad  roads  and  at  the  crossings  of  rivers,  which  not  un- 
frequently  were  swollen,  particularly  during  dark  nights,  ex- 
posed him  not  only  to  much  discomfort,  but  also  to  actual 
danger.  In  consequence  of  this  arrangement,  though  under 
the  circumstances  it  was  the  only  one  possible,  it  was  plain 
that  such  care  could  not  be  bestowed  upon  each  congrega- 
tion and  upon  its  adult  and  young  members  as  was  desirable. 
Miihlenberg  had,  as  he  says,  to  keep  house  in  three  places. 
Not  one  of  them  afforded  him  the  necessary  comfort,  while 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  139 

they  increased  his  expenses.  To  some  extent  he  was  relieved 
in  this  respect  by  the  kindness  of  the  people  toward  him. 
He  says  in  his  diary :  "  One  man  brings  me  a  sausage,  another 
a  piece  of  meat,  a  third  a  chicken,  a  fourth  a  loaf  of  bread,  a 
fifth  some  pigeons,  a  sixth  a  rabbit,  a  seventh  some  eggs,  an 
eighth  some  tea  and  sugar,  a  ninth  some  honey,  a  tenth  some 
apples,  an  eleventh  some  partridges,  and  so  forth.  The  parents, 
especially  of  the  children  I  instruct,  when  they  have  anything 
which  appears  to  them  of  superior  excellence,  bring  it  as  a 
gift  to  the  pastor.  T  attach  no  value  to  these  dainties,  but 
by  loving  sympathy  I  wish  to  gain  their  hearts. "  At  a  later 
period,  Oct.  30,  1746,  Miihlenberg  writes  concerning  his  finan- 
cial affairs  to  the  Fathers  at  Halle  that  which  may  properly 
be  inserted  in  this  place :  "  In  the  first  year  I  had  yet  a  small 
sum,  a  few  pounds,  left  in  my  hands  when  I  came  here  from 
Charleston.  In  the  New  Hanover  charge  eleven  [twelve  he 
says  at  another  occasion]  pounds  were  presented  to  me  with 
which  to  buy  a  horse.  In  the  Philadelphia  congregation  in  the 
first  and  second  year  I  did  not  receive  enough  money  to  pay 
my  house-rent,  because  they  had  undertaken  such  a  large  and 
extensive  church-building,  and  always  maintained  that  the  dear 
Fathers  at  Halle  had  been  requested  by  letter  during  the  first 
year  to  pay  out  of  the  charity  collection  the  pastor  whom 
they  would  send.  When,  without  getting  my  full  consent  in 
advance,  they  had  undertaken  that  expensive  building,  they 
clamored  for  the  collection-money  [from  Germany],  and  prom- 
ised they  would  rather  take  care  of  the  pastor  themselves. 
At  Providence  also  I  received  in  the  first  year  no  money  at 
all,  since  they  also  were  heavily  burdened  with  the  erection 
of  the  church,  and  also  maintained  that  they  had  begged 
the  Fathers  at  Halle  they  should  at  least  during  the  first  year 
pay  the  pastor's  salary.  But  my  clothes  were  during  the  first 
and  second  years  so  totally  worn  out  by  my  continuous  travel- 
ling that  I  had  to  contract  a  debt  of  sixteen  pounds  to  buy 
under-clothing  and  outer  garments.  In  the  second  year  I 
settled  accounts  with  my  landlord :  he  would  take  no  money, 
but,  feeling  myself  under  obligation,  I  presented  each  of  the 


I4O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

two  mothers  [two  families  living  the  house]  with  a  saddle  at 
an  expense  of  five  pounds.  My  first  horse  becoming  useless 
in  the  second  year,  I  Was  obliged  to  buy  a  stronger  one  for 
thirteen  pounds  sterling.  I  had  ridden  him  hardly  four  times 
to  Philadelphia  during  extremely  bad  weather  when  he  died, 
whereupon  I  bought  for  eight  pounds  sterling  a  large,  heavy 
draught-horse.  In  the  second  year  I  paid  at  Philadelphia  to 
my  landlord  for  house-rent  six  pounds  sterling,  for  saddle 
and  bridle  four  pounds,  not  counting  many  smaller  outlays, 
so  that  I  was  finally  at  least  sixty  pounds  sterling  in  debt.  In 
the  second  year  the  country  congregations  with  much  exertion 
raised  thirty  pounds  for  me,  wherewith  I  paid  a  part  of  my 
debts  and  bought  indispensable  necessaries.  When  all  the 
three  congregations  were  engaged  with  their  building  enter- 
prises and  sadly  longed  for  the  collection-money  [from  Europe], 
the  news  finally  came,  through  the  Rev.  Boltzius  from  Herr 
Court-preacher  Ziegenhagen,  that  there  was  left  of  former 
collection-money  the  sum  of  two  hundred  pounds.  I  an- 
nounced this  to  the  church-officers  as  a  long-expected  mes- 
sage. The  oldest  of  them,  [John  Nicolaus]  Groessmann  of 
Providence,  who  knew  all  the  circumstances  connected  with 
these  collections,  said  that  each  of  the  congregations  had  a 
right  to  an  equal  share  of  those  two  hundred  pounds,  since 
they  had  had  equal  expenses  and  labor.  The  officers  at 
Providence  resolved  that  I  should  at  once  appropriate  forty 
pounds  to  myself  as  my  salary,  since  the  congregations  had 
not  paid  me,  and  the  Fathers  had  in  my  call  settled  the  point 
that  they  would  in  the  first  years  provide  for  my  salary — that 
the  remaining  one  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  should  be 
divided  in  equal  shares.  The  Providence  congregation  con- 
sequently received  sixty  pounds  for  their  building  outlay,  as 
the  receipt  will  prove.  The  Philadelphians  were  in  most 
harassing  embarrassment,  and  most  willingly  would  have 
taken  all  the  money.  To  avoid  strife,  they  did  receive  one 
hundred  pounds,  whereof  the  country  congregations  were  kept 
ignorant.  The  New  Hanoverians  wanted  their  share — viz.  fifty 
pounds — for  their  school-house  building :  after  they  learned 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHIOR  MUHLENBER  G.  1 4 1 

that  I  had  deducted  my  salary  they  cheerfully  acquiesced  in 
it.  As  debts  troubled  me  and  there  was  no  other  feasible 
way,  I  took  thirty  pounds,  paid  my  indebtedness,  gave  twenty 
pounds  to  New  Hanover,  and  owe  them  thirty  more.  My 
salary  had  gone  to  the  Philadelphians,  who  cannot  repay  it, 
yet  those  thirty  pounds  must  be  paid."  And  paid  they  were. 

This  statement  shows  sufficiently  with  what  poor  remune- 
ration Miihlenberg  began  and  continued  to  labor.  But  we  do 
not  find  that  he  was  dissatisfied  or  discouraged.  He  knew 
that  no  salary  could  ever  be  an  equivalent  for  his  services, 
but  he  had  proof  that  his  labors  were  appreciated.  With 
this  he  was  satisfied.  As  to  the  rest,  he  trusted  in  God. 

There  was  no  stronger  proof  for  Muhlenberg  of  the 
appreciation  of  his  labor  than  that  more  pastoral  work  was 
continually  expected  of  him.  Encouraging  as  this  was,  it 
soon  became  entirely  too  much  for  one  man.  Indeed,  the 
three  congregations  united  under  him  were  too  much  for  the 
care  of  one  pastor,  who,  in  addition  to  it,  performed  the 
offices  of  school-teacher. 

A  small  beginning  of  the  enlargement  of  his  sphere  of 
labor  took  place  when  (Feb.  3,  1743)  he  was  called  upon 
to  visit  a  female  member  of  the  Providence  congregation 
living  six  miles  from  that  place,  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Schuylkill  River.  In  that  direction  a  number  of  members 
were  settled.  At  his  visit  Muhlenberg  was  requested  by 
those  who  during  the  winter  season  could  cross  the  river 
only  with  difficulty,  to  preach  to  them — a  request  which  he 
granted  then  and  there  in  the  house  of  the  sick  woman. 

Toward  the  end  of  February  he  caught  a  very  severe  cold, 
lost  his  voice,  and  was  for  a  number  of  days  confined  to  his 
bed  at  Providence.  From  New  Hanover,  and  even  from  Phila- 
delphia, some  church-officers  came  to  see  him.  Friday,  March 
lith,  he  undertook  to  travel  to  Philadelphia.  On  Sunday, 
March  I3th,  he  preached  again,  though  with  a  hoarse  voice, 
in  the  Swedish  church,  in  spite  of  Zinzeridorfs  doleful  predic- 
tions. The  Moravian  missionaries  -  tried  all  means  to  get  the 
privilege  of  preaching  there  also,  but  in  vain.  A  party  of 


142  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Reformed  wished  to  unite  with  the  Lutherans  in  building  one 
church  for  both  bodies.  Miihlenberg  wisely  resisted  their  offer, 
wherein  he  had  the  consent  of  his  membership. 

In  the  same  month,  Friday,  Feb.  i8th,  the  officers  of  the 
Philadelphia  congregation  took  Miihlenberg  to  Germantown, 
in  a  northerly  direction  a  few  miles  distant  from  Philadelphia. 
We  know  that  the  Germans  who  in  1683  laid  the  foundation 
of  Germantown  were  Quakers  and  Mennonites,  averse  to  the 
existing  Church.  In  the  course  of  time,  however,  a  consid- 
erable number  of  members  of  the  Reformed  and  Lutheran 
churches  of  Germany  had  settled  .there.  The  Reformed 
erected  for  themselves  a  church-building  in  1719,  and,  as  well 
as  those  living  in  Philadelphia,  were  regularly  served  for 
many  years — possibly  from  1728 — by  the  Rev.  J.  Ph.  Boehm, 
who  resided  at  Witpen  (Whitpain),  about  fourteen  miles  dis- 
tant from  Philadelphia.  Of  him  we  know  that  he  was  decid- 
edly opposed  to  Zinzendorf,  but  equally  so  to  Halle  Pietism. 
Acrelius,  the  historian  of  New  Sweden,  tells  us  that  the 
Swedish  pastor,  John  Dylander,  who  with  John  Malander,  a 
student  of  theology,  arrived  at  Philadelphia  Nov.  2,  1/37, 
and  on  the  6th  of  the  same  month  was  inducted  into  his 
office  by  the  Rev.  P.  Tranberg  at  Wicaco,  or  Gloria  Dei 
Church,  which  for  four  years  had  been  without  a  regular 
pastor,  preached  at  their  request  to  the  Germans  [Lutherans] 
at  Philadelphia,  "as  he  was  well  versed  in  their  language,"  and 
that  he  "  also  frequently  supplied  those  who  resided  at  Lancas- 
ter with  divine  service;"  that  he  "did  the  same  in  Germantown, 
where  he  consecrated  a  stone  church  which  had  been  built  by 
the  Germans  in  the  year  1730."  He  died  in  1741,  the  year  in 
which  Zinzendorf  arrived.  Why  that  stone  church  was  not 
consecrated  at  an  earlier  time  we  are  unable  to  say.  Possi- 
bly the  building  was  not  finished  or  the  members  of  the  con- 
gregation did  not  wish  the  services  of  G.  Chr.  Schulze  or  of 
J.  C.  Stoever,  who  during  a  part  of  that  period  officiated  as 
pastors  in  Philadelphia  and  at  other  places.  The  building  of 
a  stone  church,  which  after  some  years  was  enlarged,  plainly 
proves  that  there  was  a  considerable  Lutheran  interest  in 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  143 

Germantown.  Yet  we  read  that  in  1740  all  the  inhabitants 
of  the  place  numbered  no  more  than  about  four  hundred,  and 
Muhlenberg  calls  the  building  he  found  there  a  "  Kirchlein," 
a  diminutive  church.  Unfortunately,  at  the  time  of  his  arrival 
he  found  the  Lutherans,  of  which  there  was  a  respectable 
number,  divided  by  party  strife.  After  he  had  preached  to 
them  on  the  second  chapter  of  Jeremiah  the  elders  wanted 
his  advice.  He  told  them  that  as  soon  as  an  assistant  was  by 
the  grace  of  God  sent  him  from  Europe  the  Lutherans  at 
Germantown  could  unite  with  those  at  Philadelphia  and  be 
served  by  one  pastor.  To  this  some  at  once  agreed,  giving 
their  signatures.  The  Philadelphians  also  gave  their  consent. 
This  appeal  from  Germantown  was  also  indicative  of  the 
ever-increasing  extension  of  the  work  which  Muhlenberg 
had  under  his  hands. 

In  the  summer  of  1743  his  attention  was  unexpectedly 
directed  to  Tulpehoken,  west  of  Reading,  in  the  wide  and 
fertile  valley  between  the  Blue  Mountain  chain  and  the  South 
Mountains.  There  those  Palatines  had  settled  in  1723  who,  under 
distressing  circumstances  and  in  consequence  of  oppressive 
governmental  measures,  resolved  to  leave  the  Schoharie  Valley 
and  the  farms  and  houses  owned  there  by  them,  and  to  move 
into  Pennsylvania.  Coming  down  the  Susquehanna  River, 
they  followed  the  course  of  the  Svvatara,  and  finally  settled 
on  the  Tulpehoken  Creek,  which  empties  near  Reading  into 
the  Schuylkill.  Among  them  were  a  goodly  number  of 
Lutherans.  In  1727  they  were  joined  by  the  family  of 
J.  Conrad  Weiser,  formerly  also  an  inhabitant  of  the  Scho- 
harie Valley,  whose  father  had  been  a  very  prominent  man 
during  the  conflicts  of  the  Palatines  with  the  provincial  gov- 
ernment of  New  York.  Both  father  and  son  came  originally 
from  Wurtemberg,  in  the  south-western  part  of  Germany, 
near  the  Palatinate.  Weiser  the  son,  who  came  to  America 
as  a  youth,  had  acquired  a  rare  knowledge  of  the  Indian  lan- 
guage, and  proved  very  valuable  to  the  government  of  Penn- 
sylvania as  Indian  interpreter. 

The  Lutherans  in  the  Tulpehoken  district  built  in  1727  for 


144  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

themselves  a  small  frame  church,  met  there  on  Sundays, 
sung  and  prayed,  had  the  gospel  and  a  sermon  read  to  them, 
and  were  willing  to  allow  any  straggler  who  seemed  fit  for 
the  work  to  preach  to  them  a  sermon,  since  a  regularly  pre- 
pared and  ordained  pastor  was  in  those  times  not  to  be  had. 
They  also  erected  a  school-house,  a  proof  of  their  interest  in 
the  education  of  their  children.  The  church  and  the  school- 
house  were  erected  east  of  the  present  Stouchsburg,  and  the 
church  was  known  by  the  name  of  "  Reed's  Church." 

In  1733  they  became  acquainted  with  a  certain  Caspar 
Leutbecker,  a  tailor  residing  at  Matescha,  near  Schippach, 
some  miles  south  of  Providence.  He  was  employed  by  them 
as  a  school-teacher.  Desirous  of  having  the  services  of  a  regu- 
lar pastor,  they  addressed  themselves  to  Rev.  Dr.  Ziegenhagen 
at  London,  and  promised  to  give  the  person  he  would  send  a 
yearly  salary  of  thirty  pounds.  Leutbecker  was  requested  to 
send  the  letter  containing  this  petition  to  Dr.  Z.'s  address.  In 
1734  he  reported  that  a  suitable  pastor  had  been  found  and 
was  on  his  way ;  he  also  advised  the  erection  of  a  parsonage. 
When  his  proposition  was  carried  out,  he  reported  the  death 
of  the  pastor  expected,  maintained  that  he  himself  had  been 
ordained  by  the  Rev.  A.  W.  Boehme,  the  predecessor  of  Zie- 
genhagen, and  that  he  consequently  could  serve  as  pastor. 
He  also  took  possession  of  the  parsonage.  We  cannot  won- 
der that  suspicions  were  awakened  about  the  veracity  of  the 
man,  and,  collisions  between  him  and  members  of  the  congre- 
gation taking  place,  he  soon  had  to  deal  with  a  strong  party 
of  opponents,  who  in  1735  called  as  their  pastor  Rev.  J.  C. 
Stoever,  who  then  resided  at  Conestoga,  Lancaster  county, 
Pennsylvania.  The  result  was  a  strife  which  grew  very  acri- 
monious, occasioned  the  publication  of  bitter  party  pamphlets, 
and  lasted  through  a  number  of  years.  Leutbecker,  who  was 
treated  very  roughly  by  his  opponents,  died  in  1738.  Party 
spirit  continued  the  strife,  and  Stoever  remained  until  1743, 
without  being  able  by  his  preaching  or  manners  to  recon- 
cile his  antagonists.  Among  these,  a  well-known  Moravian 
adherent  and  emissary,  Andrew  Eschenbach,  began  from 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  145 

1740  to  exercise  an  influence.  He  may  have  come  into  con- 
tact with  J.  Conr.  Weiser,  who  would  not  be  an  adherent  either 
of  Leutbecker  or  of  Stoever.  We  find  that  Weiser,  a  man  of 
unimpeachable  honesty,  but  of  an  excitable  mind,  strong  feel- 
ings, and  energetic  will,  had  during  the  times  of  Leutbecker 
for  some  months  joined  the  society  of  the  Seventh-day  Dun- 
kers,  who,  under  the  guidance  of  Conrad  Beissel,  in  the  con- 
vent of  Ephrata,  twelve  miles  from  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania, 
practised  very  rigoristic  asceticism.  Not  finding  there  a 
permanent  satisfaction,  Weiser  returned  to  his  family,  but 
kept  aloof  from  the  Lutheran  Church.  We  know  that  he 
became  acquainted  with  A.  G.  Spangenberg,  next  to  Zinzen- 
dorf  the  most  prominent  character  of  the  Moravians  during 
the  last  century.  Spangenberg,  after  his  £rst  visit  to  America 
in  1737,  returned  for  a  time  to  Europe.  Weiser  had  awakened 
in  him  an  interest  in  the  Christianizing  of  the  Indians,  who 
accorded  to  Weiser  such  honor  and  confidence  as  a  paleface 
rarely  enjoyed.  It  is  natural  that  Zinzendorf,  as  soon  as  he 
arrived  in  the  autumn  of  1741  in  Pennsylvania,  took  an  inte- 
rest in  Weiser  and  tried  to  attach  him  to  his  cause.  Weiser 
attended  the  first  and  the  third  of  the  nine  general  conferences 
the  count  held  in  Pennsylvania.  From  the  third  one,  held  at 
Oley,  a  few  miles  north  of  New  Hanover,  Zinzendorf  accom- 
panied Weiser  to  Tulpehoken,  and  had  there  a  meeting  with  the 
Iroquois  on  Aug.  3,  1742.  There  he  was  also  made  acquainted 
with  the  distressing  condition  of  the  Lutherans  in  that  locality, 
and  said  that,  being  well  acquainted  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Francke 
at  Halle,  by  correspondence  he  could  easily  procure  for  the 
Lutherans  at  Tulpehoken  a  suitable  pastor,  in  consequence 
of  which  a  regular  call  for  such  an  one  was  entrusted  to  him. 
Nobody  knew  better  than  the  count  that  there  was  no  mutual 
sympathy  at  that  very  time  between  the  leaders  of  Pietism 
and  himself  and  his  friends,  and  that  Francke  would  have 
been  greatly  surprised  to  receive  such  an  appeal  from  Zin- 
zendorf. We  are  convinced  that  Zinzendorf  did  not  for  a 
moment  entertain  the  idea  of  sending  the  call  to  Francke  and 
recommending  the  sending  of  a  Lutheran  pastor.  But  with- 


146  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

out  any  delay  he  sent,  for  the  time  being,  a  man  after  his  own 
heart,  G.  Buttner,  who  had  been  ordained  at  the  conference  at 
Oley,  having  arrived  in  this  country  in  1741.  He  became  at 
once  the  champion  of  the  former  adherents  of  the  late  Leut- 
becker,  claimed  with  them  a  title  to  the  old  (Reed's)  church 
and  lands  belonging  to  it,  and  succeeded  in  bringing  the  party 
strife  to  such  a  fever-heat  that  Zinzendorf,  on  another  visit  to 
Tulpehoken,  hardly  escaped  personal  insult.  Buttner  had,  of 
course,  pretended  to  be  a  Lutheran  pastor.  So  also,  when 
Buttner,  after  a  few  months,  retired,  did  his  successor,  J.  Ph. 
Meurer,  who,  June  21,  1742,  had  arrived  from  Europe  at 
Bethlehem,  Pa.,  and  in  September  was  sent  by  Zinzendorf  to 
Tulpehoken.  In  vain  did  he  make  efforts  to  remove  Stoever, 
who  certainly  through  his  conduct  exposed  himself  to  attack ; 
in  consequence  of  which,  Zinzendorf,  with  three  of  his  adhe- 
rents and  instruments,  formed  a  consistory  and  deposed  him 
from  his  office — an  act  to  which  we  have  already  alluded.  But 
now  a  third  individual  appeared  in  the  foreground — Val.  Kraft, 
who  first  took  the  role  of  the  peacemaker,  pretended  to  be 
solicitous  to  establish  good  feeling  between  Meurer  and  Stoe- 
ver, and  told  the  people  that  Stoever  had  promised  him  to 
mend  his  ways.  He  succeeded,  however,  in  forming  a  third 
party  attached  to  himself.  It  was  also  apparent  that  the 
longer  the  people  associated  with  the  pastors  sent  by  Zinzen- 
dorf, the  less  were  they  willing  to  believe  them  Lutherans. 
Those  who  did  not  like  the  Moravian  rule  and  rulers,  while 
they  did  not  feel  respect  for  Stoever  and  Kraft,  increased  in 
numbers,  and,  not  being  able  loyally  to  get  possession  of 
Reed's  Church,  on  Ascension  Day,  May  12,  1743,  laid  the 
corner-stone  of  Christ  Church,  three  miles  west  of  Reed's,  a 
short  distance  to  the  west  of  the  present  Stouchsburg.  Traces 
of  the  foundations  of  this  church,  erected  on  a  hill  which  over- 
looks the  Tulpehoken  and  near  a  fine  grove,  are  still  visible 
on  the  road  now  leading  to  the  new  church,  erected  1785- 
86.  The  road  runs  between  the  old  graveyard  to  the  west, 
in  which  venerable  monuments  of  a  very  hard,  rough  sand- 
stone, placed  there  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  may 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  147 

be  seen,  and  the  new  graveyard  to  the  east,  in  which  the 
new  church  stands,  and  from  its  lofty  spire  presents  a  com- 
manding view  of  the  surrounding  country.  To  this  Christ 
Church  three  Lutherans,  Sebastian  Fisher,  Christian  Sauer, 
and  George  Unruh,  had  each  given  five  acres  as  a  glebe- 
land. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Buttner  and  Meurer,  though  their 
Lutheranism  was  an  empty  pretence,  were  much  better  Chris- 
tians and  pastors  than  Stoever  and  Kraft,  whose  behavior,  by 
contrast,  was  an  offence  to  a  Christian  conscience.  The  people 
were  not  inclined  to  tolerate  them  any  longer.  Thus  it  hap- 
pened that  all  the  Lutherans  who  had  no  sympathy  with 
Meurer  were  deprived  of  the  services  of  a  regular  pastor.  In 
this  predicament  they  addressed  themselves  to  H.  M.  Miihl- 
enberg,  begging  him  to  assist  them  in  procuring  a  pastor. 
The  words  of  Holy  Scripture,  "a  city  that  is  set  on  a  hill  can- 
not be  hid,"  were  verified.  Miihlenberg's  good  name  had 
already  spread  from  the  plateau  east  of  the  Schuylkill  Valley 
on  which  New  Providence  and  New  Hanover  were  situated 
in  the  midst  of  the  primeval  forest,  with  their  houses  and 
cultivated  fields  making  from  year  to  year  larger  inroads 
into  it,  from  a  distance  of  about  fifty  miles  through  a  dis- 
trict even  now  called  the  Schwarzwald  (Black  Forest),  south 
of  Reading — which  city  in  those  days  did  not  exist — and 
to  the  west  of  the  Schuylkill  Valley  into  the  region  irri- 
gated by  the  limpid  waters  of  the  Tulpehoken  and  its  trib- 
utaries. 

Miihlenberg  tells  us  that  in  1743  he  was  for  the  first  time 
invited  to  Tulpehoken,  where  his  advice  and  assistance  were 
greatly  needed.  He  found  three  parties  there.  Eight  or 
nine  families  held  the  old  (Reed's)  church  with  the  "  Beth- 
lehemites,"  which  in  this  case  meant  the  emissaries  from 
Bethlehem,  Pa.,  the  Moravian  pastors  who  in  vain  pretended 
to  be  Lutherans.  The  second  party  was  attached  to  Stoever 
and  held  the  new  (Christ)  church.  The  third  party  had  no 
particular  attachment  and  claimed  rights  in  the  new  church, 
but  needed  help.  It  was  not  possible  for  Muhlenberg  him- 


148  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

self  to  serve  them.     In  other  respects  he  was  willing  to  do  for 
them  what  he  could. 

He  was,  as  we  know,  standing  alone  in  the  extensive  field 
of  his  labor.  It  now  happened  that  in  the  year  1743  a  pastor, 
Tobias  Wagner  of  Wiirtemberg,  a  great-grandson  of  the 
renowned  theologian  Tobias  Wagner,  who  died  in  1680  as 
chancellor  of  the  University  of  Tubingen,  arrived  in  Penn- 
sylvania and  presented  himself  to  Miihlenberg.  He  had  been 
pastor  at  Horkheim,  near  Heilbronn,  in  Southern  Germany, 
was  married,  and  brought  with  him  five  children,  to  whom  in 
Pennsylvania  three  more  were  added.  Through  his  sons  he 
is  the  ancestor  of  a  widely-spread  family  bearing  his  name, 
and  through  his  daughters  of  the  highly- respected  families , 
of  the  late  Maj.-gen.  S.  P.  Heintzelman,  U.  S.  A.,  Stille, 
and  others.  He  had  come  in  company  with  a  number  of 
German  immigrants  to  New  England,  most  probably  to  the 
colony  of  Waldoboro'  in  the  present  State  of  Maine,  was  not 
satisfied  there,  and  came  to  Pennsylvania  in  hope  of  finding 
here  a  better  field  of  labor  and  support  for  himself  and  his 
family. 

With  Muhlenberg's  consent,  the  third  party  at  Tulpehoken 
gave  Wagner  a  call  ad  interim.  Unfortunately,  Wagner  was 
not  attractive  to  the  two  other  parties.  Miihlenberg  found 
that  Wagner's  sermonizing  was  not  pleasing  to  the  people, 
that  there  was  no  magnetism  about  his  person,  and  that  he 
proved  suspicious,  censorious,  and  very  impulsive.  The  third 
party  at  Tulpehoken  could  not  provide  a  sufficient  support  for 
him  and  his  large  family,  with  which  already  in  1743  he  had 
moved  thither.  Dissatisfaction  increasing,  Miihlenberg  made 
vain  attempts  to  associate  Wagner  with  himself  or  to  place 
him  in  other  localities.  But  the  congregations  were  not  will- 
ing. Wagner  ungraciously  soon  began  to  mistrust  Miihlenberg 
and  to  spread  the  untrue  report  that  Miihlenberg  received  a 
regular  salary  from  Halle,  where  the  Fathers  were  well  in- 
formed about  Wagner,  but  placed  no  confidence  in  him. 
Wagner  also  associated  himself  with  Stoever.  and  other  ene- 
mies to  ecclesiastical  order  and  pastoral  dignity,  and  under 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  149 

the  pretext  of  stricter  orthodoxy  even  tried  to  undermine  Miihl- 
enberg's  position  and  influence.  He  continued,  however,  to 
perform  his  pastoral  duties  in  Christ  Church,  Tulpehoken,  and 
at  Heidelberg,  where  Conrad  Weiser  resided,  some  miles  east 
of  Christ  Church,  and  at  other  localities,  until  1746.  Yet 
during  1745  he  accepted  a  call  to  Zion  Church  (now  Mosellem), 
Berks  county,  Pa.,  moved  at  Easter  in  1746  into  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  present  city  of  Reading,  served  about  that  time 
also  the  Alsace  congregation  near  that  city,  began  the  forma- 
tion of  the  Lutheran  congregation  in  it  by  preaching  in  a 
private  house,  consented  in  1748  to  serve  the  Lutheran  con- 
gregation at  Earltown  (New  Holland),  Lancaster  county,  Pa.,  in 
1751  that  at  Lancaster  also  for  a  short  period,  and  remained 
pastor  at  the  Mosellem  church  until  his  return  to  Europe  in 
1759,  where  he  most  probably  died  (1775)  as  pastor  of  a  con- 
gregation in  Wurtemberg.  Muhlenberg,  willingly  admitting 
the  superiority  of  Wagner's  personal  character  over  those 
vagabond  self-made  pastors  with  whom  he  and  the  congre- 
gations were  obliged  to  contend,  tried  to  influence  Wagner 
and  to  benefit  him  as  best  he  could.  But  a  more  intimate 
association  with  a  man  of  Wagner's  whole  mental  framework 
was  impossible.  Tulpehoken,  however,  now  remained  one  of 
the  objects  of  Muhlenberg's  care.  In  fact,  in  the  spring  of 
1745,  while  Wagner  for  a  time  had  absented  himself,  those 
served  by  him  called  upon  Muhlenberg  to  take  them  alto- 
gether under  his  care,  thinking  that  he  could  reunite  all  the 
three  parties.  We  add  that  during  Wagner's  residence  at 
Tulpehoken  the  Moravian  party  had  erected,  in  place  of  their 
old  frame  church,  a  new  building  of  freestone,  dedicated  in 
1746  by  Spangenberg.  Wagner's  party  used  Christ  Church, 
which  was  also  claimed  by  the  friends  of  Stoever.  Immedi- 
ately after  Wagner's  first  arrival  in  Pennsylvania,  in  July  or 
August,  1743,  Muhlenberg  had  tried  to  induce  the  Lutherans 
at  Indianfield  and  Old  Goshenhoppen,  some  miles  north-east 
of  Providence,  to  give  Wagner  a  call,  since  they  were  then 
engaged  in  a  strife  with  Streiter,  a  former  school-teacher, 
who  served  them  as  an  unordained  pastor.  But  they  refused 


150  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

to  have  him.  Wagner  paid  a  visit  also  at  Lancaster,  but  there 
also  had  no  success,  but  met  with  Stoever  and  Kraft,  with 
whom  he  fell'  into  a  dispute.  Thereupon,  Wagner  returned 
to  New  England,  and  in  a  short  time  afterward  suddenly  re- 
appeared in  Pennsylvania,  bringing  along  his  family.  One 
reason  why  Muhlenberg  was  glad  to  have  him  settle  in  Tul- 
pehoken  was  that  during  the  summer  of  the  same  year 
(1743)  another  clerical  impostor,  John  Conrad  Andreae,  who 
had  been  summarily  dismissed  from  his  pastoral  office  at 
Hornbach  by  the  government  of  the  principality  of  Zwei- 
briicken  in  Germany,  arrived  in  Pennsylvania,  and,  desiring 
to  impose  upon  Lutheran  congregations,  might  have  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  in  at  Tulpehoken.  We  find  this  despicable 
individual  afterward  settled  at  Goshenhoppen,  and  at  a  later 
period  at  Germantown,  where,  after  having  done  his  best  to 
serve  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  and  to  prevent  the  prog- 
ress of  Christ's  kingdom,  he  died  the  death  of  an  evil-doer, 
Jan.  I,  1754.  It  was  not  the  least  of  the  cares  of  Muhlenberg  to 
defend  congregations  against  the  inroads  of  such  unworthy 
pretenders  to  the  sacred  office,  while  such  unprincipled  men 
used  all  possible  means  to  counteract  his  influence. 

As  early  as  the  year  1743  some  Lutheran  congregations  in 
Hunterdon  county,  N.  J.,  laid  their  grievances  before  Muhlen- 
berg. He  was  then  not  in  a  condition  to  extend  to  them 
a  helping  hand.  The  same  took  place  in  the  following  year? 
and  found  him  in  the  same  condition.  In  the  year  1745 
things  had  taken  such  a  turn  that  Muhlenberg  could  not 
avoid  interesting  himself  for  those  congregations  and  taking 
upon  himself  the  care  of  a  rather  distant  field.  The  circum- 
stances were  as  follows :  In  the  Reports  which  Muhlenberg, 
and  at  a  somewhat  later  period  his  colaborers  also  who  had 
been  sent  from  Halle,  transmitted  to  the  Fathers — those  worthy 
men  at  Halle,  that  centre  of  evangelical  missions  in  Germany, 
who  in  connection  with  Ziegenhagen  at  London  took  such  a 
warm  and  active  interest  in  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  Ger- 
man Lutheran  congregations  in  the  American  colonies — we 
frequently  read  of  "  the  Raritan  congregations."  It  seems  that 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  151 

Lutherans  from  Holland  had  at  an  early  period  settled  on  the 
upper  waters  of  the  Raritan  River,  and  that  in  the  course  of 
time  German  Lutherans  joined  them  in  such  numbers  that  they 
gradually  formed  the  overwhelming  majority,  so  that  finally,  in 
religious  services,  German  only  was  used.  It  is  probable  that  in 
earlier  times  the  pastors  of  the  Dutch  Lutherans  at  New  York 
occasionally  attended  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  these  brethren 
in  the  faith,  and  it  is  related  that  Justus  Falkner,  already 
known  to  us,  moved  from  the  Hudson  in  his  later  years  to 
that  district,  and  died  there  in  1723.  His  successor  in  the 
field  of  labor  on  the  Hudson  and  at  New  York  was  the  Rev. 
Wilh.  Christopher  Berkenmeier,  who  after  his  arrival  in  the 
New  World  in  1725  served  both  these  branches  of  the  Dutch 
Lutheran  Church,  until,  in  1732,  the  Rev.  Mich.  Christian 
Knoll  took  charge  of  the  congregations  at  New  York  and 
the  neighboring  Hackensack,  N.  J.  Berkenmeier  had  on 
the  occasion  of  a  visit  advised  the  Lutherans  on  the  Upper 
Raritan  to  address  themselves  to  the  ministry  of  the  city  of 
Hamburg,  and  to  petition  for  a  suitable  pastor.  In  following 
this  advice  they  put  into  the  hands  of  that  ministry  a  regular 
call  and  the  moneys  needed  for  the  sending  of  the  individual 
to  be  selected.  They  wanted  a  "  German  sludiosus  theologies^ 
whom  the  ministry  was  to  ordain  before  he  came  across  the 
ocean.  One  of  the  members  of  that  ministry,  Rev.  J.  A. 
Wolf,  had  a  near  relative  of  the  same  name,  then  a  studiosus 
theologice,  who  was  called,  and  May  II,  1734,  ordained  in  St. 
Nicolai  Church  at  Hamburg.  Whether  this  man  was  selected 
because  he  was  a  near  relative  of  Pastor  Wolf,  or  because  he 
gave  encouraging  promise  of  future  usefulness,  or  because  he 
did  not  give  any  such  for  Germany,  but  allowed  a  charitable 
hope  of  a  favorable  development  under  totally  different  cir- 
cumstances in  a  foreign  land,  we  know  not;  but  this  we 
know,  that  a  more  unsuitable  individual  could  not  have  been 
palmed  upon  the  Raritan  congregations.  He  was  received 
here  by  them  with  much  joy  and  good-will.  Of  his  ortho- 
doxy there  was  no  doubt.  He  had  not  even  the  faintest  sem- 
blance of  Halle  Pietism,  so  much  abhorred  by  the  adherents 


152  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

of  the  orthodox  party,  to  which  in  these  times  the  Hamburg 
ministry,  and,  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic,  W.  Chr.  Berken- 
meier  and  M.  Chr.  Knoll,  belonged.  He  was  said  to  be  a 
man  of  fine  classical  and  literary  attainments.  But  that  such 
a  scholar  should,  when  preaching,  be  obliged  to  read  every 
one  of  his  sermons  from  his  manuscript  was  altogether  op- 
posed to  the  views  and  feelings  of  the  Lutheran  farmers  and 
other  people  on  the  Upper  Raritari.  He  thought  that  his 
method  was  good  enough  for  "  these  peasants."  The  spiritual 
gifts  of  humility,  patience,  kindness  were  totally  wanting 
in  him ;  other  proclivities  were  offensively  prominent.  Fol- 
lowing his  matrimonial  inclinations,  he  soon  married,  but  in 
a  short  time  was  separated  before  a  civil  court  de  mensa  et  toro 
from  his  wife,  whom  he  had  scandalously  maltreated.  He 
showed  a  lamentable  indifference  in  the  discharge  of  his 
duties,  would  not  listen  to  advice,  was  obstinate  in  his  ways, 
and  fond  of  litigation.  One  year  after  entering  upon  his 
duties  here  he  had  to  such  an  extent  lost  all  the  esteem  and 
affection  of  his  flock  that  Berkenmeier  and  Knoll  came  to 
admonish  him  and  to  try  to  make  an  impression  upon  him. 
Through  their  influence  a  new  agreement  was  entered  into  in 
1735  between  Wolf  and  the  people,  but  it  led  to  no  happy 
result.  The  members  of  the  small  congregations — of  which 
there  were  about  four — refused  to  pay  Wolf's  salary.  Since 
they  had  given  their  signatures  in  the  call  sent  to  Hamburg, 
they  were  compelled  to  pay  as  long  as  Wolf  was  legally  the 
pastor,  and  Wolf  made  them  pay  by  legal  process.  Through 
a  period  of  eight  years  lawsuits  were  carried  on  between  him 
and  his  members.  Every  attempt  to  eject  him  from  the  office 
failed.  The  civil  courts  were  not  calculated  to  judge  the  case 
on  its  proper  merits,  the  lawyers  were  ever  ready  with  their 
services  on  each  side,  and  the  whole  condition  of  things  was 
a  scandal  to  the  Church  and  to  the  whole  community. 

Finally,  but  entirely  too  late,  the  contending  parties  agreed 
to  lay  the  matter  before  a  board  of  four  arbitrators,  two  from 
each  side.  Wolf  called  Berkenmeier  and  Knoll  on  his  side  j 
the  members,  Miihlenberg  and  Tobias  Wagner.  Miihlenberg 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  153 

was  very  averse  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  detestable 
affair,  but  the  worried,  distressed  members  of  those  congre- 
gations allowed  him  no  rest.  He  corresponded  with  Berken- 
meier,  and  proposed  that  Wolf  should  be  persuaded  and 
assisted  to  return  to  Germany.  It  seems  that  Berkenmeier 
intimated  such  a  course  would  be  detrimental  to  the  repu- 
tation and  honor  of  Wolf.  When,  in  July,  1745,  three  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Raritan  congregations  came  again  to  Muhlen- 
berg,  informing  him  that  an  agreement  had  been  made  before 
a  justice  of  the  peace  between  them  and  Wolf  that  whosoever 
should  show  himself  unwilling  to  carry  out  the  conditions 
should  pay  a  fine  of  fifty-five  pounds,  and  that  a  final  decision 
must  be  made  by  the  arbitrators  on  or  before  the  1st  of 
August,  1745,  Muhlenberg  found  himself  unable  any  longer 
to  resist,  and  undertook  with  Tob.  Wagner  a  journey  of  about 
seventy  miles — Wagner  had  to  go  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
six  miles — and  arrived  July  3ist  at  the  Raritan.  Here  they 
found,  to  their  great  embarrassment,  that  Knoll  was  there,  but 
not  Berkenmeier.  This  seemed  to  jeopardize  the  whole  un- 
dertaking. What  excuse  Berkenmeier  had  for  his  non-appear- 
ance we  know  not,  but  in  a  letter  of  May  20,  1745,  sent  to 
Muhlenberg  before  the  whole  transaction,  he  uses  very  am- 
biguous language,  brings  unjust  charges  against  the  congre- 
gations, and  deals  with  Wolf  in  a  manner  which  is  more 
calculated  to  hurt  the  writer  of  the  letter  than  to  help  Wolf. 
Even  Knoll  did  not  hesitate,  in  a  letter  of  Oct.  1 6,  1745,  to 
demonstrate  to  Berkenmeier  that  he  had  in  this  matter  taken 
a  standpoint  which,  in  view  of  all  the  facts  of  the  case,  was 
untenable,  and  showed  an  unfair  mind  biassed  in  favor  of 
Wolf.  Under  these  circumstances  the  absence  of  Berkenmeier 
on  the  day  of  arbitration  was  probably  no  disadvantage.  Wolf, 
who  may  have  felt  that  under  present  conditions  he  could  not 
satisfactorily  maintain  himself  for  any  length  of  time  there  as 
pastor,  and  who  needed  money  above  all  other  things,  ac- 
knowledged the  three  arbitrators  as  competent  to  decide  the 
case.  The  arbitrators  listened  through  five  long  days  to  the 
testimony  laid  before  them  from  both  sides ;  they  made  vain 


154  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

efforts  to  reconcile  Wolf  with  his  wife,  who  preferred  to  go 
begging  with  her  two  children  rather  than  to  live  again  with 
tyer  husband.  No  less  futile  were  the  efforts  to  restore  peace 
between  Wolf  and  his  church-members,  not  one  of  whom 
desired  him  any  longer  as  pastor.  Wolf  finally  proposed,  for 
the  consideration  of  ninety  pounds  sterling,  to  give  to  the 
congregations  a  full  release  and  quit  the  office.  It  was  no 
easy  task  to  persuade  men  who  had  lost  money  enough  in 
this  long  litigation  by  court  and  lawyers,  and  had  been  obliged 
by  a  decision  of  the  court  to  sustain  for  years  a  man  whose 
services  could  not  benefit  them,  to  sign  their  names  to  the 
document  and  to  pay  that  worthless  pastor  an  additional  and 
high  sum  of  money.  But  the  arbitrators,  though  obliged  to 
hear  many  a  sharp  word,  succeeded,  and  the  document  was 
signed.  The  old  papers  on  which  the  claims  of  Wolf  rested 
he  now  handed  to  those  whose  names  were  on  them,  and  they 
immediately  tore  the  signatures  from  them.  Wolf  received 
his  ninety  pounds ;  the  trouble  was  so  far  at  an  end,  and  the 
arbitrators  departed. 

A  report  on  the  arbitration,  written  by  Muhlenberg  and 
signed  by  the  three  arbitrators,  was  sent  to  the  ministry  at 
Hamburg.  That  Wolf  ceased  to  be  pastor  was  .one  step  in 
the  right  direction,  but  of  a  negative  character.  The  congre- 
gations were  left  in  a  totally  destitute  condition.  In  ejght 
years  the  Lord's  Supper  had  not  once  been  administered  nor 
the  rite  of  confirmation  performed.  The  people  were  demor- 
alized in  consequence  of  the  bitter  strife  and  the  lamentable 
litigation ;  they  were  unwilling  to  enter  into  any  formal  con- 
nection with  another  pastor.  There  were  other  disturbing 
and  discouraging  influences  at  work  on  either  side. 

Under  these  distressing  circumstances  Muhlenberg  under- 
took, in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  to  pay  another  and  a 
more  protracted  visit  to  these  congregations.  He  instructed 
the  young,  visited  and  encouraged  the  membership,  adminis- 
tered confirmation,  awakened  a  new  interest.  Through  him  the 
lost  confidence  in  the  clerical  office  and  the  respect  for  it  were 
restored,  and  twice  he  repeated  his  visits  there  in  the  follow- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  155 

ing  year.  In  all  this  he  proved  the  intensity  of  his  mission- 
ary spirit.  No  wonder  that  also  in  that  region  a  new  life  and 
an  interest  in  the  word  of  God,  and  a  love  for  it  and  for  the 
Church  and  her  services,  were  aroused.  That  he  endeared 
himself  to  the  souls  whom  he  manifestly  led  out  of  dark- 
ness we  can  easily  understand.  Future  facts  will  prove  it. 
But  he  had  now  undertaken  to  cultivate  a  new  field,  and  was 
not  the  man  to  lay  his  hand  to  the  plough  and  to  look  back. 
We  shall  have  ample  occasion  to  see  how  solicitous  he  was 
for  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  Raritan  congregations. 


156  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 


CHAPTER  XI. 
1745-1747- 

Further  extension  of  Muhlenberg's  missionary  labors. — Numerical  increase  of  Luther- 
ans in  Pennsylvania. — Their  spiritual  destitution. — Irregularly  appointed  pas- 
tors.— Carl  Rudolph. — Moravian  pastors  intruding  upon  Lutheran  congrega- 
tions.— In  answer  to  Muhlenberg's  petition,  Rev.  P.  Brunnholtz  and  J.  N. 
Kurtz  and  J.  H.  Schaum  arrive  from  Halle. — Their  respective  fields  of  labor. 
— Brunnholtz  takes  charge  of  Philadelphia  and  Germantown. — Miihlenberg 
retains  Providence  and  New  Hanover  and  outlying  charges. — Kurtz  begins  to 
teach  at  New  Hanover,  Schaum  at  Philadelphia. — J.  J.  Loeser. — Muhlen- 
berg's marriage. — He  settles  at  Providence. — Missionary  work  in  Lancaster 
and  York.— L.  T.  Nyberg.— J.  Conr.  Weiser  the  elder.— The  Lutherans  on 
the  Upper  Hudson  and  in  the  Schoharie  Valley. — Interest  in  the  Raritan  con- 
gregations.— The  catechists  Kurtz  and  Schaum  there. — Progress  of  these 
churches. 

THE  year  1745,  which  witnessed  the  extension  of  Muhlen- 
berg's work  and  influence  beyond  the  limits  of  Pennsyl- 
vania into  the  neighboring  province  of  New  Jersey,  was  in 
other  respects  one  of  the  most  memorable  of  his  life.  In  the 
Raritan  congregations  he  had  to  disunite  incongruous  ele- 
ments; in  Pennsylvania  he  was  engaged  in  effecting  very 
desirable  unions.  From  the  very  first  days  of  his  labor  in 
the  field  to  which  he  was  called,  the  conviction  that  here  was 
any  amount  of  work  for  the  proper  kind  of  men  willing  to 
serve  the  Lutheran  cause  grew  more  and  more  strong  within 
him.  Thousands  of  Lutherans  were  scattered  over  a  field 
extending  several  hundred  miles  in  all  directions.  Immigra- 
tion was  toward  the  middle  of  the  last  century  greatly  on  the 
increase.  It  is  stated  that  in  one  year  nine  thousand,  in  another 
twelve  thousand,  German  immigrants  landed  at  Philadelphia. 
Reports  came  to  Miihlenberg  from  all  directions  that  Lu- 
theran pastors  were  wanted.  In  their  destitute  condition  con- 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  157 

gregations  would  allow  men  to  serve  them  who  were  devoid 
of  every  quality  necessary  for  spiritual  advisers.  Some  of 
that  class  have  already  come  under  our  observation.  Such 
men  had  to  be  resisted  and  displaced  and  worthy  men  intro- 
duced. 

Among  these  rogues  there  was  one  particularly  prominent 
in  those  years,  Carl  Rudolph  by  name,  prince  of  Wiirtemberg, 
as  he  called  himself,  a  consummate  scoundrel,  probably  a  desert- 
er from  some  army  in  Europe,  who  carried  on  a  cheating  and 
stealing  expedition  from  Georgia  through  the  seaboard  prov- 
inces as  a  pretender  to  the  sacred  office,  foraging  upon  Ger- 
man settlers,  displaying  anew  in  a  short  time  in  each  locality 
his  utter  dissoluteness,  doing  immense  harm  to  the  clergy,  but 
always  finding  people  to  inveigle  by  his  persuasive  arts.  There 
were  here  and  there,  in  various  congregations,  better  men 
well  qualified  for  the  sacred  work.  Among  the  Germans 
they  were  then  "  few  and  far  between/'  There  was  no  organ- 
ization, no  unity  of  action,  among  them.  Most  active  were 
the  Moravians.  They  seemed  never  to  be  in  want  of  men  to 
serve  their  cause  among  Germans  or  Indians.  But,  while 
Miihlenberg  was  willing  to  give  them  credit  for  their  general 
character  and  zeal,  he  could  not  allow  the  Lutheran  congre- 
gations to  fall  a  prey  to  Moravianism  or  to  be  cut  asunder  by 
the  Moravian  emissaries,  as  was  sometimes  the  case.  Under 
these  circumstances  he  would  have  been  very  glad  to  meet 
with  brethren  in  the  office  who  could  have  shared  his  feelings 
and  views  and  co-operated  with  him.  But  neither  Wagner 
nor  Stoever  nor  men  like  Berkenmeier  or  Knoll  were  properly 
qualified  for  this  end.  Wagner  was  distrustful,  had  become 
prejudiced  against  Miihlenberg,  did  not  consider  him  soundly 
orthodox,  and  even  tried  to  raise  suspicion  against  him  by 
pamphlets.  Miihlenberg  sought  to  exercise  some  influence  on 
Stoever,  in  whom  he  certainly  recognized  elements  which, 
properly  directed,  might  have  been  used  to  great  advantage. 
But  Stoever  had  no  sympathy  with  Miihlenberg's  spirituality, 
no  thorough-going  personal  experience  of  the  operation  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  upon  his  heart  and  life.  Miihlenberg's  efforts, 


158  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

by  conversation  or  correspondence,  to  bring  him  nearer  and 
effect  a  better  understanding  and  a  closer  sympathy  were  in 
vain.  Men  like  Berkenmeier  and  Knoll  belonged  to  a  differ- 
ent theological  school,  and  were — especially  Berkenmeier — 
prejudiced  against  the  missionary  of  Halle.  It  is  natural  to 
suppose  that  Miihlenberg  greatly  desired  as  his  associates  men 
who  would  fully  sympathize  with  him.  From  the  very  begin- 
ning of  his  labors  in  his  three  congregations,  knowing  full 
well  how  much  should  and  could  be  accomplished  here  for 
the  Lutheran  Church  and  for  thousands  of  souls  given  to  her 
by  Providence,  he  had  sent  petitions  to  Halle  begging  the 
Fathers  to  send  him  colaborers ;  and  so  pressing  was  he  in  his 
entreaties  that  finally  success  crowned  his  efforts,  and  three 
men  were  found  who  were  willing  to  follow  Miihlenberg  as 
missionaries  from  Halle  to  assist  in  his  labors  on  the  large 
field  in  Pennsylvania.  They  were  Peter  Brunnholtz,  John 
Nicol.  Kurtz,  and  John  Helfrich  Schaum.  Jan.  26,  1745, 
Miihlenberg  had  the  pleasure  of  welcoming  these  three 
brethren  at  Philadelphia  to  their  new  field  of  activity.  He 
knew  that  in  union  there  is  strength,  and  he  had  not  the  least 
doubt  that  with  these  men  he  could  in  all  the  essentials  of  the 
sacred  service  fully  unite,  and  that  a  blessed  progress  in  the 
work  before  them  might  be  expected. 

The  date  on  which  these  three  brethren  arrived  here  was  so 
memorable,  and  the  joy  they  experienced  on  meeting  Miihlen- 
berg was  so  great,  that  for  a  number  of  years  it  was  celebrated 
in  the  circle  of  the  brotherhood  as  a  memorial  day,  serving 
for  the  spiritual  refreshment  of  them  all.  That  joy  was  shared 
fully  by  the  members  of  the  Philadelphia  congregation,  who 
received  these  brethren  most  kindly.  After  it  was  known 
that  they  had  resolved  to  come,  prayers  were  offered  publicly 
and  privately  for  a  safe  voyage.  That  to  them  and  to  their 
whole  work  Miihlenberg's  experience,  highly-respected  posi- 
tion, influence,  and  friendship  proved  invaluable,  needs  no 
remark.  He  had  been  the  pioneer  and  had  done  the  hardest 
work ;  they  willingly  acknowledged  his  superiority  and  fol- 
lowed his  guidance. 


hENR  Y  MEL  CHIOR  MUHLENBER  G.  159 

The  most  prominent  of  them  was  Rev.  Peter  Brunnholtz. 
He  was,  when  leaving  Europe,  still  a  subject  of  the  Danish 
kingdom,  having  been  born  in  Nubiihl,  in  the  Danish  province 
of  Schleswig.  Having  received  a  good  linguistic  education — 
he  mastered,  among  others,  also  the  Danish  and  Swedish  lan- 
guages— and  having  finished  his  course  of  theological  study 
at  the  university,  for  a  time  as  a  candidate  for  holy  orders  he 
was  engaged  in  performing  pastoral  services  on  the  estates 
of  a  nobleman,  Hartmann  von  Gensau  of  Farrenstaedt,  who 
also  used  him  as  an  instructor  of  the  youth,  thought  highly 
of  his  services  and  of  his  Christian  character,  was  closely 
connected  with  the  directors  of  the  Halle  institutions,  and, 
in  accordance  with  their  wishes,  laid,  the  call  from  Pennsyl- 
vania before  Brunnholtz,  believing  him  to  be  well  qualified 
for  the  work,  though  he  had  some  misgivings  on  account  of 
Brunnholtz's  weak  constitution.  Brunnholtz,  after  taking  the 
matter  into  prayerful  consideration,  accepted  the  call  Feb.  29, 
1744.  At  Dr.  Francke's  solicitation,  Count  Stolberg  of 
Wernigerode  permitted  the  examination  and  ordination  of 
Brunnholtz  by  the  church  authorities  of  his  estates.  On 
Friday,  May  10,  1744,  he  was  examined,  and  on  Sunday, 
May  1 2th,  publicly  ordained.  After  having  taken  farewell 
of  his  father  and  brothers,  and  of  the  Fathers  and  friends  at 
Halle  and  other  places,  he  was  joined  at  Hamburg  by  his  two 
companions,  J.  N.  Kurtz  and  J.  H.  Schaum,  both  going  to 
America  in  the  capacity  of  assistants  to  Muhlenberg  and 
Brunnholtz,  or  as  catechists.  Both  were  intimate  friends, 
as  their  fathers — esteemed  parochial  teachers  in  Germany — 
had  been  for  many  years.  They  had  made  a  beginning  in 
the  work  of  preparation  for  the  ministerial  office,  and  were 
expected  to  continue  their  studies  under  the  tuition  and  guid- 
ance of  both  their  superiors,  and  at  the  same  time  to  make 
themselves  useful  as  teachers  in  the  schools  connected  with 
the  congregations  under  the  care  of  the  ordained  pastors.  As 
such  they  were  greatly  needed  in  Pennsylvania,  and  proved 
themselves  at  once  valuable  colaborers  with  Muhlenberg  and 
Brunnholtz.  Kurtz  took  his  lodgings  in  the  recently-erected 


l6o  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

school-house  at  New  Hanover  as  the  teacher  of  the  school 
connected  with  that  congregation ;  Schaum,  residing  in  Philadel- 
phia with  Brunnholtz,  served  there  in  the  same  capacity.  Both 
assisted  the  pastors  also  in  preaching,  since  at  various  locali- 
ties outside  of  the  congregations  united  under  the  two  regular 
pastors,  and  taken  care  of  by  them,  there  were  demands  for  this. 
Sometimes,  as  the  circumstances  required  it,  the  pastors  them- 
selves would  serve  those  outlying  stations  (Filial  Gemeinderi), 
which  in  the  course  of  time  were  raised  to  parishes  having 
their  own  pastors  or  forming,  in  connection  with  other  similar 
smaller  settlements,  new  parochial  charges.  Thus  it  was  at 
Oley,  a  few  miles  from  New  Hanover  in  a  north-eastern  direc- 
tion ;  at  Saccum,  Upper  Milford,  and  neighboring  localities : 
at  Easton  and  its  environs ;  also  in  Chester  county,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Schuylkill  River ;  at  Cohansey  in  New  Jer- 
sey, about  thirty-six  miles  south-east  of  Philadelphia ;  in  the 
Schwarzwald,  and  in  other  localities  added  in  the  course  of 
time.  Wherever  Miihlenberg*  found  German  Lutherans  who 
needed  pastoral  services  he  was  willing  to  give  a  helping  hand, 
and  Brunnholtz  and  the  two  catechists  manfully  assisted  him ; 
so  that  the  influence  of  these  increased  and  united  forces, 
working  for  one  end,  was  felt  over  the  field  of  action,  which 
continually  expanded.  Miihlenberg  never  lost  sight  of  the 
training  of  the  children  of  the  Church.  As  other  responsi- 
bilities continually  increased,  he  could  no  longer  devote  him- 
self to  regular  teaching.  But  he  found  also  for  the  children 
of  his  flock  at  Providence  a  young  man  who  under  his  super- 
vision carried  on  the  work  in  the  parochial  school.  This  was 
John  Jacob  Loeser,  who  before  the  arrival  of  J.  N.  Kurtz  had 
in  New  Hanover  acquired  some  experience  in  the  art  of  teach- 
ing, enjoyed,  on  account  of  his  excellent  Christian  character 
and  faithfulness  in  the  performance  of  his  duties,  the  con- 
fidence of  Miihlenberg,  and  Jan.  7,  1749,  entered  upon  a  new 
field  of  labor  as  parochial  teacher  of  the  Lancaster  congrega- 
tion. Also  J.  Fr.  Vigera,  whose  acquaintance  we  made  at 
Ebenezer,  Ga.,  and  who  now  resided  in  Pennsylvania,  had 
before  the  arrival  of  Kurtz  served  as  a  teacher  at  New  Han- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  l6l 

over,  and  had  afterward  for  a  time  been  active  in  the  same 
capacity  at  Philadelphia :  he  was  also  employed  there,  when 
the  regular  pastor  was  engaged  in  other  places  and  after  J, 
H.  Schaum  had  been  called  to  another  field  of  labor,  as  a  lay 
reader  in  the  congregational  worship. 

Muhlenberg  and  Brunnholtz  began  their  united  labors 
cheerfully  and  with  strong  and  lasting  sympathy  for  each 
other.  At  first  they  made  bi-weekly  changes:  one  served 
for  two  weeks  at  Philadelphia  and  Germantown;  the  other, 
in  the  country  congregations.  But  already  in  June,  1745,  an 
arrangement  was  made,  with  the  consent  of  the  congrega- 
tions, according  to  which  Brunnholtz  took  special  charge  of 
Philadelphia  and  Germantown;  Muhlenberg,  of  Providence 
and  New  Hanover,  with  the  outlying  smaller  charges.  He 
had  in  the  performance  of  his  pastoral  duties  to  spend  a 
considerable  part  of  his  time  on  horseback,  going  over  the 
roughest  roads  and  byways,  through  thickets  and  swamps, 
and  to  be  exposed  to  all  sorts  of  weather.  These  exertions 
and  dangers  Brunnholtz's  weaker  physical  constitution  could 
not  endure.  Muhlenberg,  under  circumstances  soon  to  be  ex- 
plained, had  his  headquarters  for  about  two  months  in  Phil- 
adelphia, where  now  his  colleague  began  his  bachelor  house- 
hold, while  he  himself  resided  at  Providence,  where,  with  a 
view  to  a  continued  residence,  he  began  to  have  a  house  built 
for  himself  and  took  up  a  piece  of  land  for  cultivation,  to 
assist  in  sustaining  himself  and  a  family. 

And  this  leads  us  legitimately  to  give  the  history  of  a 
union  in  addition  to  the  official  clerical  partnership  of  Muhl- 
enberg with  Brunnholtz,  and  in  no  manner  affecting  this  most 
necessary  and  salutary  relation.  We  refer  to  a  union  which 
contributed  to  supply  a  deeply-felt  want  and  to  complete  the 
man  and  the  pastor  for  his  work. 

We  know  that  already,  in  the  fall  of  1743,  Muhlenberg 
was  requested  to  take  an  interest  in  the  deplorable  condition 
of  the  Lutheran  congregation  at  Tulpehoken,  known  in  those 
days  as  the  "  Tulpehoken  Confusion."  When,  during  his  first 
visit,  he"  became  acquainted  with  J.  Conrad  Weiser,  it  seems 


1 62  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

that  a  mutual  sympathy  sprang  up  between  the  two.  In  a 
short  time  Miihlenberg  gained  the  full  confidence  of  his  new 
friend,  who,  after  various  alliances  in  divers  directions,  came 
nearer  and  nearer  to  Lutheranism  as  Muhlenberg  represented 
it,  until  finally  his  membership  in  the  Lutheran  Church  was 
fully  established.  Weiser  was,  when  Muhlenberg  became 
acquainted  with  him,  a  man  highly  respected,  not  only  by 
his  neighbors  and  a  large  circle  of  friends,  but  by  the  author- 
ities of  Pennsylvania  and  of  neighboring  provinces.  He  was 
a  self-made  man,  had  gone  through  many  hardships,  was  rich 
in  experience,  and,  while  his  interest  in  religious  matters  is 
proved  even  by  such  an  extravagance  as  his  transient  attach- 
ment to  the  convent-life  at  Ephrata,  and  afterward  by  his  short- 
lived interest  in  Zinzendorf,  he  showed  the  greater  soberness 
of  his  judgment  by  his  lasting  respect  and  love  for  Muhlen- 
berg and  by  the  unremitting  confidence  he  learned  to  place 
in  him.  To  Weiser's  pen,  in  reply  to  questions  made  by 
Brunnholtz,  we  owe  one  of  the  best  delineations  of  Zinzen- 
dorfs  peculiarly-constituted  character  and  of  the  methods 
he  pursued  in  his  missionary  work  during  his  visit  to  Penn- 
sylvania. Acknowledging  what  was  great  and  good  in  the 
count,  Weiser,  without  any  malice,  with  a  totally  unbiassed 
mind,  points  out  the  weak  sides  of  the  man  who  in  many, 
but  not  in  all,  respects  was  the  superior  of  thousands.  That 
Weiser,  when  Muhlenberg  came  to  his  house,  had  an  open 
ear  not  only  for  the  well-seasoned  conversation  of  his  cler- 
ical guest,  but  also  for  his  melodious  singing  and  his  other 
musical  accomplishments,  proves  that  the  traditional  love  of 
the  German  for  music  was  vigorously  alive  in  Weiser's  heart. 
Mtihlenberg's  singing  and  playing  on  the  family  organ  were, 
however,  listened  to  not  only  by  Weiser,  but  by  his  whole 
family.  And  we  are  not  going  too  far  in  thinking  that  there 
was  among  Weiser's  children  one  who  with  a  peculiar  interest 
listened  to  the  manly  singer's  melodious  voice,  and  could  not 
but  admire  his  character  and  his  whole  bearing;  and  to  her, 
who  could  not  escape  his  observation,  Muhlenberg  offered 
his  hand,  which,  with  the  parental  consent,  was  lovingly 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  163 

accepted.  On  April  22,  1/45,  the  Rev.  H.  M.  Miihlenberg 
and  Miss  Anna  Mary  Weiser  were  united  in  the  bonds  of 
marriage  at  Tulpehoken  by  the  Rev.  Tobias  Wagner.  The 
official  record  of  the  marriage  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  well- 
preserved  church-record  of  the  parsonage  next  to  Christ 
Church,  near  Stouchsburg.  Brunnholtz  and  Scha'um  had 
accompanied  Miihlenberg  to  Tulpehoken,  and  were  wit- 
nesses at  the  marriage. 

Anna  Mary  Weiser  was  born  June  24,  1727,  was  conse- 
quently at  the  time  of  her  marriage  not  yet  quite  eighteen  years 
old,  always  proved  herself  a  faithful  partner  of  her  husband's 
joys  and  sorrows,  toils  and  cares,  suffered  in  later  years  from 
long-continued  bodily  infirmities,  lost  her  beloved  husband 
after  a  happy  union  of  forty-two  years  and  five  months,  and 
departed  in  peace  Aug.  23,  1802.  Her  situation  at  the  side  of 
her  husband  was  a  trying  one.  His  mind  and  time  were  taken 
up  with  the  ever-increasing  cares  of  his  office,  an  extensive  cor- 
respondence, and  the  demands  made  upon  him  from  all  parts 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  the  colonies.  He  was  frequently 
absent  from  home — sometimes  for  weeks  and  months.  This 
was  keenly  felt  by  his  wife,  and  the  willingness  with  which 
she  submitted  to  her  lot  deserves  our  admiration.  She  knew 
that  in  travelling  to  distant  places  and  doing  his  best  to  gather 
Lutherans  into  congregations,  and  for  a  time 'serving  them  or 
giving  them  an  organization,  he  was  fulfilling  the  mission  of 
his  life.  Young  and  inexperienced  as  she  was,  after  she  had 
given  her  hand  to  the  beloved  man  she  adapted  herself  ex- 
ceedingly well  to  the  duties  of  her  arduous  position,  since  all 
the  domestic  affairs  and  the  care  of  a  growing  family  devolved 
upon  her.  Her  husband  offered  her  his  full  sympathy.  Once, 
when  he  was  away  from  her  during  a  very  critical  period,  she 
said,  referring  to  the  distress  then  experienced,  that  indeed 
many  a  poor  laborer's  wife  with  her  husband  with  her  from 
day  to  day  was  more  pleasantly  situated  than  she  was.  Her 
husband  puts  these  words  down  in  his  diary  in  a  way  which 
proves  his  tenderest  compassion.  But  she  rejoiced  in  his 
manly,  active,  energetic  character,  in  the  divine  blessings 


164  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

which  manifestly  rested  on  his  labors,  in  the  constant  increase 
of  his  usefulness,  in  the  high  regard  that  was  offered  to  him 
by  the  congregations,  his  clerical  colaborers,  and  all  right- 
minded  persons  in  the  most  varied  positions  in  life.  He 
bears  willing  testimony  to  the  good  Christian  principles  which 
ever  guided  her.  One  word  from  his  pen  and  from  his  heart 
which  he  enters  in  his  diary  after  having  happily  lived  in  her 
companionship  for  nearly  thirty  years  may  suffice  in  this  direc- 
tion. "  Last  night,"  he  says,  "  my  wife  had  a  very  severe 
attack  of  sickness,  and  suffered  greatly.  She  is  now  some- 
what better.  We  had  a  conversation  on  spiritual  matters. 
Her  great  concern  was,  among  other  things,  this — that  her 
children,  her  relatives,  and  friends  might  be  saved  and  attain 
eternal  bliss.  This  is  proper  and  laudable :  we  must  first  in 
humble  anxiety  and  sincerity  seek  our  own  salvation,  but 
look  also  upon  our  children  and  friends  as  a  property  be- 
longing to  us,  yet  purchased  by  the  Lord  by  the  gift  of  his 
own  blood  and  life  for  them :  to  him  we  should  recommend 
them,  presently  and  perseveringly  praying  for  them."  We 
may  add  that  the  hospitality  exercised  by  Mrs.  Miihlenberg 
was  thankfully  acknowledged  by  many  pastors  and  friends 
who  in  her  house  were  kindly  received  and  liberally  treated. 
When  Miihlenberg,  in  June,  1745,  moved  from  Philadelphia 
to  Providence,  he  not  only  acted  so  as  to  prove  his  good-will 
toward  his  colleague  Brunnholtz,  but  he  followed  the  inclina- 
tion of  his  own  heart.  He  preferred  the  country  to  the  city, 
realizing  that  man  had  made  the  city,  but  God  the  country. 
To  his  decided  preference  for  the  country  he  gives  expression 
on  various  occasions.  The  people  of  Providence  were  glad 
to  have  him  among  their  fellow-citizens  and  neighbors,  and 
a  strong  mutual  attachment  grew  up,  which  made  itself  felt 
whenever  occasions  arose  which  called  him  away  to  distant 
fields  of  labor.  That  he  built  himself  a  house  there  on  a 
piece  of  land  belonging  to  him  indicated  that  he  intended  to 
be  permanently  settled  at  Providence,  and,  although  some- 
times absent  for  extended  periods,  his  headquarters  were  there 
until  he  was  by  peculiar  circumstances  in  1761  necessitated  to 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  165 

move  with  his  family  to  Philadelphia.  In  Providence  eight 
of  the  eleven  children  with  whom  his  marriage  was  blessed 
were  born ;  the  first  of  them,  John  Peter  Gabriel,  born  Oct. 
I,  1746,  was  destined  to  make  the  name  of  the  family  re- 
nowned by  his  patriotism. 

When  Miihlenberg  already  in  1745  was  requested  to  stretch 
out  a  helping  hand  to  the  Lutherans  on  the  Raritan,  he  extend- 
ed his  influence  in  an  eastern  direction  beyond  the  Delaware. 
Soon  afterward  his  sympathies  were  engaged  in  Lutheran  con- 
gregations to  the  west  of  his  headquarters  at  Providence. 
There  disturbances  had  taken  taken  place  similar  to  those  ex- 
perienced in  Philadelphia,  in  consequence  of  the  objectionable 
position  Zinzendorf  and  his  assistants  tried  to  take  in  the 
Lutheran  congregations.  In  the  congregations  at  Lancaster 
and  York  a  Moravian  emissary  had  also  succeeded  for  a 
time  in  palming  himself  upon  them  as  a  Lutheran  pastor. 
Here  we  simply  state  what  Miihlenberg  reports  of  his  second 
visit  to  Lancaster  and  first  one  to  York.  Lancaster  he  had 
visited,  in  company  with  Brunnholtz,  already  in  1745.;  now 
he  speaks  of  the  year  1746.  He  says :  "  Toward  the  end  of 
April  I  was  necessitated  again  to  visit  Tulpehoken,  and  from 
there  to  go  to  the  litigant  congregation  at  Lancaster.  This 
I  did  with  the  consent  of  my  colleague  Brunnholtz  and  our 
congregations.  The  circumstances  forced  me,  though  I  fore- 
saw that  I  would  be  rewarded  with  nothing  but  disgrace  and 
trouble ;  for  after  about  eighty  protesting  Lutherans  had  been 
acquitted  by  the  civil  authority,  and  those  tending  to  Mora- 
vianism,  with  their  pastor,  Herr  Nyberg,  were  nonsuited,  the 
Lutherans  desired,  for  justice'  sake,  that  one  of  us  should 
preach  a  sermon  in  the  church,  to  which  before  they  had  no 
access.  The  Moravian  party  opposed  it,  and  their  attempt 
forcibly  to  prevent  me  almost  created  a  tumult,  one  faction 
impelling  me  to  go  to  the  church,  the  other  resisting  me. 
All,  however,  passed  off  without  a  disturbance.  The  Mora- 
vians, seeing  that  they  could  not  carry  out  their  purpose,  used 
the  German  newspaper  to  asperse  my  name ;  the  other  side, 
however,  amply  retorted.  [This  refers  to  Christoph.  Sauer's 


1 66  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

German  periodical  published  at  Germantown.]  After  this 
Nyberg  with  his  party  left  the  church  to  the  Lutherans  and 
began  to  build  a  house  of  worship  of  their  own.  The  fact 
that  the  right  reverend  consistory  of  Sweden  sent  a  response 
testifying  against  Nyberg  [who  was  a  Swede]  had  greatly 
contributed  to  this  result."  "  From  Lancaster  I  was  called  to 
a  large  congregation  on  the  other  side  of  the  Susquehanna 
River,  near  the  outmost  borders  of  Pennsylvania,  touching  on 
Maryland.  This  congregation  had  occasionally  been  visited 
by  Herr  Nyberg  so  long  as  he  was  considered  a  genuine 
Lutheran  preacher.  The  congregation  consists  of  one  hun- 
dred and  ten  families.  Nyberg  had  promised  to  procure  for 
them  another  pastor  from  Sweden,  but  after  the  quarrel  at 
Lancaster  had  begun  they  would  not  have  any  further  deal- 
ings with  him.  In  that  congregation  I  had  to  baptize  a  num- 
ber of  children  and  to  confirm  some  whom  the  parochial 
teacher  had  instructed.  From  there  I  returned  to  Tulpehoken 
— a  distance  of  forty-six  English  miles — where  I  again 
preached ;  from  Tulpehoken  I  had  fifty  miles  more  to  Provi- 
dence and  my  congregations."  The  town  here  spoken  of  is 
York,  and  this  is  all  the  report  Miihlenberg  gives  us  of  this 
his  first  and  most  extended  missionary-tour  in  the  western 
direction  from  Providence. 

During  the  year  1746  the  young  family  at  Providence  had 
the  opportunity  of  entertaining  a  very  remarkable  visitor. 
The  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Muhlenberg,  old  John  Conrad  Weiser, 
came  to  see  his  descendants  in  Pennsylvania  and  to  look  into 
their  circumstances.  His  life  had  been  an  unusually  stormy 
one.  Coming  from  the  dukedom  of  Wurtemberg  along  with 
the  thousands  of  Palatines  who  during  the  summer  of  1709 
reached  London,  he  was  encamped  with  them  in  tents — given 
for  this  purpose  by  the  English  government — in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  city,  toward  Greenwich.  When,  in  the  following 
year,  the  government  transported  some  three  thousand  of  these 
German  emigrants  to  the  shores  of  the  Hudson,  Weiser  was 
among  them.  In  the  troubles  which  a  short  time  afterward 
broke  out  between  these  new  settlers  and  Governor  Hunter, 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  l6/ 

under  whose  injudicious  and  arbitrary  measures  they  felt  ex- 
ceedingly uncomfortable,  Weiser  was  one  of  the  spokesmen. 
Hunter  considered  him  a  seditious  ringleader.  Weiser  was 
conscientiously  convinced  that  the  Germans  were  wilfully 
maltreated  by  Hunter,  and  he  resisteo!  this  deeply-felt  injus- 
tice. Instead  of  trying  wisely  to  pacify  these  strangers  on 
the  Hudson,  Hunter  never  ceased  to  irritate  them.  He  wanted 
them  to  repay  the  English  government  for  its  outlay  in  their 
behalf  by  producing  naval  stores — tar,  rosin,  etc.  They  de- 
sired to  be  independent  settlers,  cultivators  of  the  soil,  to 
establish  comfortable  homes  for  themselves  by  their  industry. 
As  such  there  can  be  no  doubt  they  would  have  been  a  much 
richer  source  of  advantage  to  the  government.  When  a 
number  of  them — Weiser  one  of  the  foremost  among  them — 
in  1712  moyed  from  the  Hudson  to  the  Schoharie  Valley,  they 
maintained  that  Mohawk  Indians  who  in  1709  had  been  ex- 
hibited in  London,  and  had  become  acquainted  with  the  Ger- 
man emigrants,  had  given  them  that  tract  of  land — an  asser- 
tion which  was  not  without  some  foundation.  Hunter  con- 
sidered the  exodus  to  the  Schoharie  a  new  rebellion  in  a  new 
form,  and  set  up  fictitious  counter-claims  of  some  Dutchmen 
of  New  York  to  those  lands.  The  Germans  saw  in  this 
only  another  fraudulent  measure  of  oppression,  and  resisted 
the  government,  sometimes  with  means  not  justifiable  in  the 
eyes  of  the  law.  Hunter  intended  to  put  Weiser,  as  the  most 
outspoken  and  most  obstinate  rebel,  in  prison  at  New  York, 
and  to  hand  him  over  to  the  criminal  court ;  but  no  officer 
of  the  law  had  the  courage  to  touch  Weiser.  He  and  the 
Germans  had  a  good  understanding  with  the  Indians.  He 
allowed  his  son  Conrad  to  live  for  a  period  of  six  months 
among  them  and  to  be  on  the  most  intimate  terms  with  them. 
There  young  Weiser  gained  his  knowledge  not  only  of  the 
language  and  manners  of  the  Indians,  but  also  of  their  pe- 
culiar feelings  and  of  their  views  of  men  and  things,  which 
in  his  later  life  in  Pennsylvania  was  of  much  advantage  to 
him  and  to  the  commonwealth.  Father  J.  C.  Weiser  was 
one  of  the  three  unfortunate  delegates  whom  the  Germans  in 


1 68  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

the  Schoharie  Valley  in  1718  sent  to  the  government  in  Eng- 
land to  report  their  grievances  and  seek  for  redress.  These 
three  delegates  found  their  way  to  Philadelphia,  clandestinely 
embarked  here,  fell  into  the  hands  of  pirates,  by  whom  they 
— especially  Weiser — were  most  cruelly  maltreated,  after  hav- 
ing landed  at  Boston,  finally  reached  London,  and  were  there 
without  friends  and  patrons.  One  of  them,  Wallrath,  being 
homesick,  embarked  for  America,  and  died  on  the  sea ;  the 
two  others,  Weiser  and  Schafif,  became  involved  in  debt,  were 
imprisoned  almost  a  whole  year,  and  of  course  in  their  cause 
with  the  government  were  counteracted  by  Hunter,  who  in  1719 
had  been  recalled  from  his  office  as  governor  of  New  York. 
Weiser  returned  to  America  in  1722.  The  result  of  the  mis- 
sion to  England  was  fruitless.  The  government  of  England 
directed,  however,  its  representatives  in  the  province  of  New 
York  to  parcel  out  to  the  Germans  in  the  Schoharie  Valley 
other  lands  upon  which  no  claims  were  made.  In  the  course 
of  time  many  of  the  younger  generation  of  Germans  came 
to  an  understanding  with  those  Dutchmen  who  by  showing 
fraudulent  titles  pretended  to  have  claims  to  the  lands  which 
were  cultivated  by  the  Germans.  The  Germans  agreed  to  pay 
a  trifling  yearly  rent.  Other  parties  of  the  Germans  moved, 
as  we  have  already  learned,  in  1723,  to  Pennsylvania,  and  set- 
tled on  the  Tulpehoken.  They  were  followed  in  1729  by 
young  J.  Conrad  Weiser.  His  father  would  not  then  leave 
the  soil  on  which  he  had  fought  the  long-continued  battle 
of  his  life.  But  now,  in  his  extreme  old  age,  his  heart  gave 
him  no  rest.  No  doubt  he  had  now  and  then  heard  of  his 
son,  of  the  progress  the  Germans  were  making  in  their  set- 
tlements in  free  Pennsylvania,  of  the  happy  condition  of  the 
members  of  his  own  family,  and  undoubtedly  also  of  Miihlen- 
berg,  his  position  and  influence,  and  his  marriage  with  his 
own  granddaughter.  All  this  was  too  much  for  the  aged 
father ;  he  could  not  quietly  rest  on  the  Schoharie.  Like 
the  old  patriarch  Jacob,  he  desired  once  more  to  see  with 
his  own  eyes  his  son  and  his  grandchildren,  with  all  their 
friends,  and  then  to  die. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  169 

Of  old  Grandfather  Weiser's  visit  at  his  house  at  Providence 
Miihlenberg  speaks  in  a  very  feeling  way.  He  says  that  his 
visitor  came  also  with  the  special  purpose  of  speaking  with 
him  about  the  concerns  of  his  soul.  When  he  arrived  he 
was  so  much  exhausted  by  the  exertions  of  the  long  and 
arduous  journey  undertaken  in  his  old  age  that  he  was 
brought  to  his  house  almost  dead.  After  a  day's  rest  he 
revived  to  some  extent,  and  began  with  half-broken  voice 
to  repeat  striking  Bible  passages  referring  directly  to  the 
salvation  in  Christ,  to  the  forgiveness  of  sins  through  him, 
to  Christ's  call  to  all  heavy-laden  souls,  and  verses  of  the  old 
German  church-hymns  of  corresponding  character.  His  eyes 
were  dim,  and  his  hearing  was  so  defective  that  there  could 
not  be  much  conversation.  Miihlenberg  takes  occasion  to 
say :  "  Oh  how  good  it  is  in  our  youth  to  lay  up  treasures 
taken  from  the  word  of  God !  Even  if  it  does  not  produce 
the  proper  fruit  in  practice  on  account  of  many  impediments, 
God  remains  true  to  himself  and  graciously  shows  his  hand 
in  his  own  good  time.  Methinks  this  aged  father  offered  me 
a  beautiful  instance  of  this.  I  could  here  see  how  true  it  is 
that  the  Spirit  of  God  is  directly  united  with  the  word.  It 
affords  sincere  joy  to  see  how  the  old  Evangelical  Lutheran 
teachings  were  revivified  in  the  soul."  Having  regained  some 
bodily  strength,  the  aged  father  received,  after  proper  prepa- 
ration, the  Lord's  Supper  from  the  hands  of  Miihlenberg — a 
scene  exceedingly  affecting  to  all  who  were  present.  In  con- 
clusion he  also  united  with  all  of  them  in  praying  the  twenty- 
third  Psalm,  and  selected  the  fifth  and  sixth  verses  of  it  as  the 
text  for  the  occasion  of  his  burial.  He  remained  a  few  days 
longer  at  Providence,  and  was  then  taken  in  a  wagon  sent 
by  his  son  to  Tulpehoken,  where  he  rejoiced  for  a  short 
period  to  "  live  with  his  Joseph  in  Goshen,"  and  fell  asleep 
while  children  and  children's  children  sent  up  their  prayers 
in  his  behalf.  He  was  at  the  time  of  his  departure  between 
eighty  and  ninety  years  of  age.  To  have  undertaken,  in 
his  enfeebled  condition,  at  such  an  age,  so  arduous  a  jour- 
ney from  the  Schoharie  to  Pennsylvania  is  a  striking  proof 


I/O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

of  the  longing  of  his  heart  and  of  the  indomitable  energy  of 
his  will. 

When  Miihlenberg,  in  the  summer  of  1745,  returned  from 
the  Raritan  congregations,  he  kept  their  interests  and  preca- 
rious condition  in  his  heart.  They  regained  courage  from  the 
thought  that  they  were  an  object  of  his  care.  Their  situa- 
tion was  a  very  trying  one.  Miihlenberg  tells  us  that  Wolf, 
after  quitting  his  office,  was  still  there,  "  willing  rather  to  rot 
than  to  move."  So  was  another  individual,  Langenfeld,  who 
years  before  had  as  a  pastor  served  a  portion  of  the  whole  field, 
but  now  was  farming.  Both  of  them  were  spectators,  curious 
to  see  what  turn  things  would  take.  Berkenmeier  and  the 
ministry  of  Hamburg  were  unwilling  to  allow  any  "  Hallen- 
sis  "  to  gain  influence  there.  The  congregations  were  deplor- 
ably demoralized,  and  afraid,  in  consequence  of  their  troubles 
with  Wolf,  to  put  their  signature  to  any  call  for  a  pastor ;  they 
had  not  yet  church-  and  school-buildings,  and  for  this  ex- 
pected help  from  the  "  Fathers  "  through  Miihlenberg.  We 
know  that  during  the  fall  of  1/45  he  paid  them  a  second, 
more  protracted  visit.  Twice  he  repeated  his  visits  during 
the  following  year.  J.  N.  Kurtz  was  sent  there  toward  the 
end  of  the  same  year  (1745),  returned  in  January,  1746,  and 
spent  also  during  the  summer  of  this  year  three  months  with 
them.  In  the  spring  of  1747,  J.  H.  Schaum  was  delegated 
to  serve  there,  and  spent  a  large  part  of  the  same  year  with 
these  congregations.  But  in  the  November  of  that  year  the 
vagabond  Carl  Rudolph  appeared  there,  brought  greetings 
from  Miihlenberg — which  were,  of  course,  wholly  his  own 
invention — and  recommendations  from  the  miserable  scamp 
Andreae,  warning  the  people  against  any  connection  with  the 
Halle  pastors.  Fortunately,  Carl  Rudolph  there,  as  in  other 
localities,  succeeded  in  gaining  adherents  only  for  a  short 
time.  It  did  not  take  many  months  to  understand  his  abom- 
inable character.  But  his  presence  had  already  proved  a  new 
cause  of  disturbance.  Kurtz  was  sent  there  again  in  March, 
1748,  to  restore  order  by  a  sojourn  of  about  four  weeks. 
Miihlenberg  was  greatly  indignant  at  the  carelessness  and 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  I/ 1 

want  of  judgment  on  the  part  of  the  leading  men  of  the 
congregations  in  permitting  Rudolph  to  play  for  a  time 
there  the  role  of  a  Lutheran  pastor.  He  himself,  accom- 
panied by  J.  J.  Loeser,  again  visited  the  Lutherans  on  the 
Raritan  in  July,  1/48.  The  result  of  his  labors  among  them 
was  that  the  congregations  (Aug.  7th)  resolved  to  build  in  a 
central  position  one  large  church  of  freestone.  The  church 
was  built.  Miihlenberg  also  gave  them  a  proper  organiza- 
tion, each  of  the  four  congregations  being  represented  in  a 
'common  vestry  by  four  elders  and  two  deacons.  Certainly 
this  was  a  striking  result  of  Miihlenberg's  visit  and  influence, 
and  promised  good  for  the  future. 

From  the  fact  that,  in  the  year  1746,  Lutherans  settled  in 
the  Mohawk  Valley,  in  the  province  of  New  York,  addressed 
themselves  to  Miihlenberg  and  Brunnholtz  petitioning  for  a 
suitable  pastor,  we  learn  how  far  the  good  report  about  the 
work  begun  among  the  German  Lutherans  in  Pennsylvania 
had  spread.  Such  petitions — the  number  of  which  increased 
from  year  to  year — proved  how  large  were  the  fields  ripe 
already  to  harvest,  and  how  necessary  the  prayers  that  the 
Lord  would  send  forth  laborers  into  his  harvest. 

These  prayers  were  answered  from  time  to  time.  The 
Fathers  in  Halle,  by  an  extensive  correspondence  and  the 
minute  reports  sent  by  the  laborers  in  the  American  vine- 
yard, were  well  informed  about  the  circumstances  existing 
there.  Dr.  Francke  especially  ever  had  a  watchful  eye  to  dis- 
cover men  of  the  proper  qualities  for  the  American  work. 
He  was  prepared,  two  years  after  Brunnholtz,  accompanied 
by  Kurtz  and  Schaum,  had  left  Germany,  to  send  two  others. 
He  found  one  in  whom  he  placed  confidence,  though  he  was 
not  of  a  strong  physical  constitution.  This  was  John  Fred- 
erick Handschuh,  born  of  godly  Christian  parents  Jan.  14, 
1714,  at  Halle,  and  baptized  by  Aug.  Herman  Francke,  the 
author  of  the  charitable  institutions  of  that  place,  the  father 
of  Dr.  G.  A.  Francke,  the  fatherly  friend  of,  Miihlenberg. 
Young  Handschuh  as  a  child  was  frequently  attacked  by 
sickness,  and  sometimes  thought  to  be  dead,  but,  growing 


172  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

stronger,  he  made  faithful  use  of  the  means  of  education 
which  the  classical  schools  of  his  native  city  and  its  chari- 
table and  learned  institutions  afforded  to  him.  That  his 
parents  gave  him  a  pious  Protestant  French  teacher,  under 
whose  tuition  he  became  master  of  the  French  language,  was 
at  a  later  period  of  his  life  of  much  advantage  to  him.  After 
having,  subsequent  to  1733,  taken  a  complete  four  years'  course 
at  the  Halle  University,  he  was  called  to  Leipsic  as  tutor  of  a 
young  nobleman,  gave  also  instruction  to  a  number  of  chil- 
dren of  the  nobility  of  the  city,  and  at  the  same  time  profited  by 
the  advantages  offered  by  the  university.  In  1737  the  Duke 
Christian  Ernest  of  Saxony- Saalfeld^  appointed  him  preceptor 
of  his  court-pages  at  Saalfeld.  Here  Handschuh  experienced, 
under  the  teachings  of  Rev.  Dr.  Lindner  and  Herr  von  Bo- 
gatzky — the  godly  man  whose  small  book  for  private  edifica- 
tion has  made  the  tour  of  the  globe  and  done  more  good  than 
many  a  learned  and  heavy  volume  of  theology — a  religious 
awakening  which  settled  his  convictions  as  to  the  course  of 
his  life.  After  having  been  examined  and  ordained  by  the 
consistory  of  Altenburg,  he  was  appointed  in  1744  pastor  of 
the  widely-extended  Graba  parish.  Here  the  call  of  the  des- 
titute Lutherans  in  America  came  to  him,  and  was  accepted. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  173 


CHAPTER  XII. 
1747-1748. 

Arrival  of  Rev.  J.  Fr.  Handschuh. — Disturbed  condition  of  the  Lancaster  congrega- 
tion.— Miihlenberg's  influence  demanded. — J.  N.  Kurtz,  settled  at  Tulpehoken, 
serves  for  a  time  at  Lancaster. — Handschuh  placed  there. — Molatton. — 
Earltown  (New  Holland). — A  Liturgy. — Muhlenberg,  again  on  a  missionary 
tour,  visits  Tulpehoken,  Northkill  (Bernville),  Lancaster,  York,  Monocacy, 
Frederick,  McAllistertown  (Hanover). — Jacob  Lischy. — L.  T.  Nyberg. — B. 
Maul. — Articles  of  church  order. — Dissensions. — Moravian  influences. — Rev. 
J.  C.  Hart  wig. — Visits  to  Upper  Milford,  Saccum,  and  neighboring  congrega- 
tions.— Missionary  work  branches  out  to  Birkensee  (Perkasie,  N.  P.  R.  R.), 
Easton,  Macungie,  Salisbury,  and  other  localities. — Catechist  J.  H.  Schaum 
placed  at  York. — Miihlenberg's  account  of  his  pastoral  work. — Correspond- 
ence and  diaries. 

WHEN  Handschuh,  after  a  very  tedious  voyage  from 
London,  arrived  at  Philadelphia,  April  5,  1748,  he  paid 
with  Brunnholtz  a  visit  to  Muhlenberg  at  Providence  on  the 
9th  and  loth  of  the  same  month.  Having  received  from  the 
Lutheran  congregation  at  Lancaster  a  call  dated  May  16, 
1748,  he  entered  upon  his  pastoral  duties  the  26th  of  the 
same  month. 

Lancaster  county  was  separated  from  Chester  county  in 
1727  by  the  provincial  government  of  Pennsylvania.  From 
the  year  1710  there  was  a  strong  influx  of  immigrants,  espe- 
cially Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  and  Germans  from  the  Pal- 
atinate. The  Germans,  as  the  historian  Dr.  William  H.  Egle 
tells  us,  usually  made  arrangements  with  the  agents  of  the 
Proprietaries,  the  Penn  family,  about  buying  lands  before  they 
came ;  as  soon  as  they  arrived  they  were  naturalized  at  Phil- 
adelphia and  received  patents  for  their  lands.  The  Scotch- 
Irish  acted  more  independently,  used  squatter  sovereignty, 
and  pushed  out  beyond  the  Germans  to  the  extreme  frontier 


174  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

of  civilization.  Among  the  Germans  were  many  Lutherans, 
who  in  the  course  of  time  formed  themselves  into  congrega- 
tions in  various  localities.  At  Lancaster  City,  which  dates  its 
origin  from  the  year  1730,  the  first  congregational  record  was 
commenced  by  J.  C.  Stoever  in  the  autumn  of  1733.  Stoever 
entered  in  it  some  baptisms  and  marriages  of  1729.  In  the 
year  1733  or  in  the  following  year  he  took  up  his  residence  near 
Earltown  (now  New  Holland),  on  the  road  leading  from  Penn- 
sylvania to  Maryland  and  Virginia,  and  at  that  time  much 
frequented.  The  construction  of  a  road  from  Philadelphia 
directly  to  Lancaster  was  resolved  upon  in  1733  ;  the  work 
was  not  completed  until  1741.  In  December,  1732,  Rev.  J. 
Chr.  Schulze,  who  had  arrived  Sept.  25th  of  the  same  year, 
and  was  accepted  pastor  by  the  congregations  at  Philadelphia, 
Providence,  and  New  Hanover,  paid  a  visit  to  Lancaster,  pos- 
sibly with  a  view  to  secure  the  services  of  Stoever  for  his 
congregations  during  his  absence,  since  he  intended  to  return 
to  Europe  and  to  raise  charitable  collections  for  his  people. 
It  is  probable  that  Stoever,  whom  Schulze,  before  his  depart- 
ure for  Europe,  ordained  at  Providence  in  1733,  was  the  only 
Lutheran  minister  at  Lancaster  until  1742.  Toward  the  end 
of  this  year  Valentin  Kraft,  who  during  the  summer  had 
arrived  at  Philadelphia,  gained  some  influence  at  Lancaster, 
and  promised  to  preach  there  twice  every  month.  Though 
dismissed  as  pastor  in-  the  following  year,  he  retained  a 
certain  influence  for  four  or  five  years.  It  appears  that  the 
pastor  of  the  Swedish  congregation  at  the  Wicaco  church  at 
Philadelphia  preached  for  the  Lutherans  at  Lancaster  from 
time  to  time  during  the  years  from  1742  to  1744.  By  his 
advice  they  sent,  through  Peter  Kock  at  Philadelphia,  a 
petition  to  the  Church  government  of  Sweden  to  supply  them 
with  a  pastor.  A  theologian,  Rev.  Hedstrand,  was  found  will- 
ing to  go  to  Pennsylvania  and  to  serve  the  Lancaster  Lutheran 
congregation.  He  was  ordained  by  the  archbishop  of  Upsala, 
but,  no  money  being  sent  to  pay  his  travelling  expenses,  he 
relinquished  the  call.  Rev.  Gabriel  Naesman  of  Gestricia,  who 
expected  to  travel  in  company  with  Hedstrand,  and  was  called 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.         175 

as  successor  of  Dylander  (who  had  died  Nov.  2,  1741)  to  the 
Swedish  congregation  at  Philadelphia,  arrived  here  Oct.  20, 

I743- 

Now  it  appears  that  Lawrence  Thorstonsen  Nyberg,  whom 
we  have  already  mentioned,  formerly  an  engineer,  was  induced 
secretly  to  join  the  Moravians  through  the  influence  of  A. 
Gradin,  one  of  the  most  energetic  emissaries  of  Zinzendorf 
both  in  other  countries  and  also  in  Sweden,  and,  having 
given  some  attention  to  theology  and  passed  his  examination 
as  a  candidate  for  holy  orders  in  the  Lutheran  Church,  heard 
of  the  vacancy  of  the  Lutheran  congregation  at  Lancaster, 
Pa.  After  his  arrival  here  he  gave  Miihlenberg  and  Peter 
Kock  at  Philadelphia  a  decided  assurance  that  in  Sweden  he 
had  made  the  acquaintance  of  Arvin  Gradin,  but  knew  nothing 
of  Zinzendorf,  his  peculiar  teachings  and  plans.  The  fact  is 
that  in  London  he  had  intimate  intercourse  with  Spangenberg 
and  other  Moravians.  On  the  third  Sunday  in  Advent,  1744, 
he  introduced  himself  at  Lancaster  as  a  Lutheran  pastor,  was 
joyfully  accepted,  and  began  his  pastoral  work  as  the  first 
pastor  residing  there  in  the  midst  of  his  flock.  The  fairest 
prospects  were  before  him  successfully  to  build  up  his  con- 
gregation and  to  further  the  cause  of  the  Lutheran  Church, 
but  it  could  not  escape  the  notice  of  his  hearers  that  instead 
of  teaching,  as  he  had  solemnly  promised  to  do,  the  doctrines 
of  the  Lutheran  Church,  he  used  phrases  at  that  time  quite  in 
vogue  with  the  Moravians  calculated  to  throw  contempt  upon 
the  old  truths  concerning  faith,  the  law,  repentance,  and  also 
the  person,  the  nature,  the  office  of  Christ,  and  in  this  way 
to  undermine  the  Lutheran  faith  among  a  Lutheran  member- 
ship. Being  questioned,  he  denied  having  any  affiliation  with 
the  Moravians,  while  he  secretly  corresponded  with  them  and 
visited  their  conferences.  Toward  those  whom  he  gained 
over  to  his  side  by  a  deceiving  show  of  a  higher  spirituality 
he  used  most  flattering  language.  Of  Muhlenberg  and  his 
associates  he  began  here  and  there  to  speak  as  of  a  most  dan- 
gerous class  of  people,  and  so  fully  convinced  was  he  of  the 
strength  of  his  position  that  he  not  only  married  a  Moravian 


176  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

sister  in  the  faith,  but  secretly  made  arrangements  to  hold  a 
large  conference  of  the  Moravians  in  his  congregation  during 
the  Advent  season,  1745.  This  brought  on  a  crisis.  The 
officers  and  members  of  the  congregation  who  were  averse  to 
his  principles  and  dealings  locked  the  church,  which  had  been 
built  in  1/37,  and  finally  an  appeal  was  made  to  the  civil  au- 
thority to  decide  the  case.  In  accordance  with  a  decision 
given  by  the  governor  upon  recommendations  in  favor  of 
Nyberg  from  some  English  friends,  Nyberg  and  his  adherents 
were  permitted  to  use  the  church  on  Sunday  morning,  while 
it  was  open  for  his  opponents  in  the  afternoon.  Peace  was 
not  re-established  by  this  arrangement.  The  opponents  of 
Nyberg  demanded  the  use  of  the  church  for  themselves  on 
a  certain  occasion  for  morning  service.  Their  petition  not  be- 
ing granted,  they  nailed  up  the  doors  of  the  church  and  posi- 
tively refused  Nyberg  admission  into  the  building ;  thereupon 
eight  of  the  most  prominent  men  among  his  opponents  were 
brought  by  his  adherents  before  court  as  disturbers  of  the 
public  peace.  The  church  was  closed  against  each  party 
until  the  court  had  decided.  It  happened,  when  the  trial 
came  off,  that  those  eight  men  were  declared  "  Not  guilty." 
The  church,  however,  remained  closed  against  both  parties. 
The  Nyberg  people  maintained  that  they  were  true  Luther- 
ans ;  the  others  denied  it.  Nyberg  preached  to  his  flock  in 
the  hall  of  the  court-house.  J.  Conrad  Weiser,  who  at  that 
time  was  a  justice  of  the  peace,  made  efforts,  in  connection 
with  another  magistrate,  to  unite  the  litigants  by  a  private 
agreement.  In  consequence  of  losing  the  good-will  of  an 
English  magistrate  at  Lancaster,  Nyberg  was  no  longer  per- 
mitted to  preach  in  the  court-house.  The  archbishop  of 
Sweden,  to  whom  Nyberg  had  appealed  as  favorable  to  him, 
sent  letters  declaring  Nyberg  to  be  unfit  for  the  pastoral  office, 
and  denying  his  assertion  that  the  Moravians  were  acknow- 
ledged in  Sweden  to  be  true  Lutherans. 

This  was  the  condition  of  the  Lutheran  congregation  at 
Lancaster  when  Muhlenberg  was  brought  into  connection 
with  it.  That  he  was  advised  of  all  the  circumstances  and 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  177 

proceedings  before  he  exercised  any  personal  influence  he 
tells  us  himself.  When  the  trial  of  those  eight  men  before 
the  court  was  to  come  off,  he  was  most  urgently  petitioned 
to  come  to  the  defence  of  the  Lutheran  cause.  He  under- 
took, in  company  with  Brunnholtz,  to  go  at  the  proper  time 
to  Lancaster.  He  and  his  companion  made  the  most  stren- 
uous efforts  to  bring  about  between  the  contending  parties 
some  sort  of  understanding  and  agreement,  but  did  not  suc- 
ceed. On  the  Sunday  preceding  the  trial  both  preached  to 
the  Lutheran  party  in  a  private  house.  By  the  verdict  in 
favor  of  the  eight  men  they  and  the  large  number  of  those 
who  sided  with  them  were  no  less  surprised  than  Nyberg's 
adherents. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  summer  of  the  following  year 
(1746)  Miihlenberg  was  most  urgently  requested  by  the 
Lutherans  who  had  protested  against  Nyberg  and  his  in- 
trigues again  to  come  to  Lancaster  and  to  preach  to  them. 
When  he  arrived  there  he  learned  that  in  case  he  made  an 
attempt  to  preach  in  the  church  disturbances  would  take 
place.  Some  Moravians  told  him  in  plain  language  that 
members  of  their  party  would  offer  resistance  to  his  preach- 
ing in  the  church.  He  resolved  to  preach  in  the  court-house, 
and  in  the  presence  of  some  Moravians  asked  permission  to 
do  so  of  the  mayor  of  the  town.  Early  on  Sunday,  the  ap- 
pointed day,  the  officers  and  members  of  the  Lutheran  party 
met,  and  when  Miihlenberg  informed  them  that,  to  avoid 
tumult,  he  had  resolved  to  preach  in  the  court-house,  they 
stated  their  reasons  why  they  could  not  agree  with  his  views 
on  this  point,  and  why  it  would  be  the  best,  on  this  occasion, 
to  insist  upon  their  right  and  title  to  the  church,  and  urged 
him  to  preach  in  it.  He  could  not  refute  their  arguments. 
Half  an  hour  before  the  public  service  began  he  addressed, 
however,  a  letter  to  the  mayor  and  another  to  the  Moravians. 
The  bells  were  rung  in  the  usual  manner ;  the  people  quietly 
entered  the  church,  and  Muhlenberg  preached  on  Luke  xiii. 
6-9.  There  was  no  disturbance.  Nyberg,  seeing  that  his 
claims  to  the  church  were  lost,  influenced  his  adherents  to 


1 78  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

build  a  church  for  themselves — not  as  a  Lutheran,  but  as  a 
Moravian,  congregation. 

The  litigation  was  at  an  end,  but  the  Lutherans  had  no  pas- 
tor. A  petition  in  April,  1746,  was  sent  to  Ziegenhagen  in  Lon- 
don, and  to  Francke  in  Halle,  to  procure  for  them  a  pastor. 
Miihlenberg  was  not  in  a  position  to  take  pastoral  care  of  the 
Lancaster  congregation.  In  December,  1746,  Kurtz  was  sent 
as  catechist  to  Tulpehoken  to  preach  and  to  teach  there ;  he 
also  took  care  of  the  Northkill  (now  Bernville)  congregation. 
Through  the  influence  of  J.  C.  Weiser,  in  Feb.,  1747,  he  visited 
for  the  first  time  Lancaster.  Naesman,  pastor  of  the  Swedish 
congregation  at  Philadelphia,  had  a  few  times  held  services  for 
the  Lutherans  at  Lancaster,  but  was  unable  to  continue  them. 
Kurtz  now  entered  into  an  agreement  to  spend  alternately 
two  weeks  at  Tulpehoken,  where  at  that  time  he  held  ser- 
vices in  Reed's  and  in  Christ  Church,  and  two  weeks  at  Lan- 
caster. This  arrangement,  though  under  the  circumstances  the 
only  one  possible,  was  not  calculated  to  satisfy  the  demands 
of  a  congregation  which  just  at  that  time  needed  special  care 
and  protection,  particularly  as  the  influence  exercised  then 
by  the  man  at  the  head  of  the  parochial  school  was  not  a 
good  one. 

It  has  been  already  mentioned  that  the  Rev.  J.  F.  Hand- 
schuh  had  arrived  at  Philadelphia  April  5,  1748.  He  had 
within  a  few  weeks  after  his  arrival  preached  in  Philadelphia 
and  Germantown,  and  after  having  gone  to  Providence — where 
Muhlenberg  welcomed  him  with  the  significant  words,  "  They 
that  sow  in  tears  shall  reap  in  joy  " — also  at  New  Hanover, 
Providence,  and  Schippach,  the  preaching-station  seven  miles 
south  of  Providence.  With  his  preaching  Muhlenberg  was 
well  pleased.  On  April  I2th  they  were  joined  at  Providence 
by  Brunnholtz.  Very  naturally,  the  thought  occurred  to 
him  and  Muhlenberg  that  Handschuh  might  be  the  proper 
man  •  for  the  Lancaster  congregation.  All  three  were  now 
ready  to  proceed  to  Lancaster.  J.  Fr.  Vigera  accompanied 
them. 

Starting  April    I3th   from   Providence,  they  held,  before 


* 
HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG. 

noon,  services  in  English  and  German  in  a  locality  called 
Molatton,  where  for  many  years  a  Swedish  congregation  had 
existed  which  now  was  no  longer  properly  sustained  by  the 
Swedish  pastors.  In  the  year  1746  an  insidious  disease  in 
that  region  carried  off  many  people,  and  was  the  special  rea- 
son why  Muhlenberg  was  invited  there.  The  locality  was 
about  ten  miles  from  Providence,  the  population  very  mixed 
— some  old  Swedes,  some  English,  some  Irish,  and  a  sprink- 
ling of  Germans.  Muhlenberg  served  them  by  preaching  to 
them  in  the  English  language  as  often  as  his  many  other  duties 
allowed.  While  an  old  Swedish  pastor,  Falk,  was  serving 
there  some  time  before  the  arrival  of  Muhlenberg,  the  Mora- 
vians tried  to  gain  influence  in  this  place  also.  When,  on  one 
occasion,  one  of  their  emissaries,  a  young  student  of  theol- 
ogy, Brycelius,  entered  the  church,  old  Falk  met  him,  and, 
addressing  him  with  the  words,  "  Thou  comest  to  the  sheep- 
fold  as  a  thief  and  a  murderer!"  gave  him  a  smart  slap  on  his 
face.  The  members  assembled  for  service  prevented  further 
violence. 

In  the  afternoon  of  April  I4th  the  travellers  arrived  safely 
at  Weise|Fs  house,  near  the  present  Womelsdorf.  The  follow- 
ing dayfwas  given  to  rest,  and  to  grateful  remembrance  of  the 
venerable  Fathers  at  Halle  and  of  God's  dealings  with  each 
of  the  brethren  during  the  remarkable  course  of  their  lives. 
On  April  i6th  they  went  to  Christ  Church,  five  miles  distant^ 
held  preparatory  services,  paid  a  visit  to  Catechist  Kurtz,  and 
returned  to  Weiser's.  On  Sunday,  April  I7th,  they  repaired 
to  Christ  Church  :  Handschuh  preached,  and  Muhlenberg  and 
Brunnholtz  gave  the  Lord's  Supper,  to  more  than  two  hun- 
dred communicants.  In  the  afternoon  Kurtz  preached  at 
Reed's  Church. 

Among  the  communicants  was  Mrs.  Weiser,  with  her  chil- 
dren, but -not  Weiser  himself.  Here  we  touch  a  point  which 
gave  much  concern  to  Muhlenberg.  He  says  in  his  diary 
(April  1 6th) :  "There  was  a  heavy  burden  on  my  heart. 
My  father-in-law  for  many  years  had  not  been  a  guest  at  the 
Lord's  Table,  partly  owing  to  the  former  want  of  regularly- 


180  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

ordained  ministers,  partly  in  consequence  of  the  seductive 
influence  of  different  sects.  From  the  time  of  my  acquaint- 
ance with  them  he  and  his  wife  took  care  to  have  their  chil- 
dren instructed  and  confirmed;  they  themselves,  however, 
waited  for  a  more  favorable  occasion,  had  also  still  some  scru- 
ples about  the  use  of  different  kinds  of  food,  held  the  seventh 
day  sacred  [we  remember  Weiser's  sojourn  among  the  Sev- 
enth-day Mennonites  at  Ephrata], — all  this  in  spite  of  my 
endeavors  to  show  to  them  by  correspondence  and  conversa- 
tion that  the  essentials,  sincere  repentance  and  saving  faith, 
should  not  be  confounded  with  things  which  were  not  the 
substance,  but  mere  shadows.  The  mother  had  for  a  long 
time  desired  to  come  to  the  Lord's  Table,  but  wished  the 
father  to  go  with  her.  On  the  evening  preceding  our  arrival 
I  had  requested  my  beloved  colleague  Brunnholtz  to  bring 
the  subject  before  father.  I  myself  am  not  long-suffering  and 
patient  enough  in  such  matters  if  I  do  not  carry  my  point  at 
once.  My  brother  Brunnholtz  has  the  high  esteem  of  father, 
and  is  peculiarly  fitted  for  such  a  task.  He  began  with  all 
loving-kindness  to  invite  him.  Father  said  that  the  principal 
doctrines  of  our  Evangelical  Church,  as  she  teaches  them  from 
the  word  of  God  and  the  interpretation  of  it  in  the  Symbolical 
Books,  were  dear  and  precious  to  him ;  that  he  considered 
them  essential  to  salvation ;  that  he  had  at  no  time  and  no- 
where found  anything  better ;  and  that  in  his  long  life  he  had 
ample  occasion  to  examine  and  to  try  all.  As  to  the  Lord's 
Supper,  he  would  rather  wait  a  little  longer,  until  the  Tulpe- 
hoken  congregation  had  a  regular  ordained  pastor  and  was 
brought  into  a  more  harmonious  state ;  he  was,  however,  not 
at  all  opposed  to  mother's  preceding  him  this  time.  During 
the  night  following  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  in 
Christ  Church,  Father  Weiser  suffered  with  a  most  severe 
attack  of  sickness.  He  was  apparently  in  imminent  peril  of 
life.  This  was  just  at  that  time  especially  annoying  to  the 
family,  as  the  Moravians,  who  had  formed  a  congregation  of 
their  own  and  erected  a  church — dedicated  in  April,  1745,  by 
Bishop  Spangenberg — had  said  they  would  not  rest  until  they 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  l8l 

had  prayed  Weiser  to  death."  Weiser,  having  received  the 
necessary  medicine,  lingered  on  in  an  extremely  feeble  con- 
dition. On  the  following  day,  Kurtz  also  having  arrived,  the 
ministers  all  united  in  supplication  for  the  sufferer,  and  in  their 
presence  Muhlenberg  asked  him  upon  what  ground  he  was 
willing  to  live  and  to  die.  Having  answered  this  question 
to  perfect  satisfaction,  he  was  again  asked  whether  his  con- 
science did  not  upbraid  him  as  to  his  conduct  in  the  troubles 
with  the  Moravians.  He  said  that  he  had  acted  in  this  mat- 
ter according  to  his  best  knowledge,  conscientiously,  and  as 
before  God,  and  felt  no  reproaches.  Continuing,  he  requested 
that,  as  he  had  not  communed  the  day  before,  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per should  now  be  given  to  him,  and  that  the  pastors  should 
receive  it  with  him.  This  was  done  after  confession  and  absolu- 
tion. Weiser,  with  some  assistance,  but  with  difficulty,  getting 
out  of  his  bed  to  bow  his  knees  before  God,  thus  offered  with 
many  tears  the  prayer  of  a  penitent  and  believing  soul,  and 
received  the  Lord's  Supper.  All  this  was  calculated  to  leave 
a  deep  impression  upon  all  the  friends  and  to  give  special  sat- 
isfaction to  Muhlenberg.  Weiser  also  told  his  guests  of  his 
entanglement  with  Zinzendorf,  Spangenberg,  and  J.  C.  Fr.  Cam- 
merhof  (also  a  Moravian  bishop),  showed  them  all  his  cor- 
respondence, and  told  them  where  his  papers,  documents,  and 
letters  could  be  found  in  case  of  his  death.  It  seems  that 
this  correspondence  never  came  to  light.  Weiser  recovered 
from  this  severe  attack  of  sickness ;  twelve  years  more  were 
added  to  his  pilgrimage  on  earth. 

April  22d  the  travellers — to  whom  Kurtz  was  added— 
proceeded  toward  Lancaster,  about  thirty  miles  distant  from 
Tulpehoken.  Nine  miles  from  Lancaster  they  were  met  by 
all  the  officers  of  the  Lancaster  congregation,  who  conducted 
them  to  the  town.  On  the  following  day  these  officers,  in 
the  course  of  conversation  on  the  state  of  the  congregation, 
were  informed  that  the  intention  was  not  to  force  upon  their 
congregation  Handschuh  or  any  other  pastor,  but  to  see 
whether  the  members  might  be  united  in  peace  and  harmony 
by  the  adoption  of  certain  rules  of  order  under  the  guidance 


1 82  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

of  which  the  welfare  of  the  congregation  could  be  promoted, 
as  there  was  only  one  pastor  sent  by  the  Fathers  at  Halle, 
while  the  congregati6n  of  Tulpehoken,  and  those  on  the  Rari- 
tan  also,  desired  and  needed  regular  pastors.  On  April  24th, 
Handschuh  preached  in  an  edifying  manner  on  the  Good 
Shepherd  (John  xii.  1 1— 1 6)  to  a  very  large  assembly.  Even 
after  the  departure  of  Nyberg's  adherents  the  congrega- 
tion still  numbered  from  sixty  to  seventy  families.  After 
services  Muhlenberg  and  Brunnholtz  proposed  the  question 
to  the  whole  assembly  whether  they  should  be  allowed  to 
place  a  pastor  here  whom  under  present  circumstances  they 
could  conscientiously  select  as  the  most  suitable  man.  When 
this' was  assented  to,  the  second  question  was  put:  Whether 
the  congregation  would,  like  their  other  congregations,  elect 
a  body  of  twelve  officers,  and,  with  certain  constitutional  arti- 
cles as  a  guide,  recognize  them  as  their  official  superiors? 
When  this  also  was  assented  to,  they  nominated,  in  addition 
to  the  six  officers  then  serving — who  were  the  most  promi- 
nent and  intelligent  members — six  others,  the  best  they  could 
find,  and  requested  the  members  to  proceed  to  the  sacristy  six 
at  a  time  and  give  their  votes.  These  twelve  men  having 
been  elected,  the  members  of  the  church  acknowledged 
them  by  giving  them  their  hands,  and  they  then  signed  their 
names  to  the  articles  or  rules  of  order  laid  before  them.  The 
whole  transaction  seemed  to  have  a  great  effect  upon  the 
congregation.  On  the  following  day  Muhlenberg  and  Brunn- 
holtz, after  private  prayerful  consideration  and  deliberation, 
informed  the  assembled  church  council  that  they  could  not 
do  better  than  propose  Handschuh  as  pastor  of  the  congre- 
gation. "  Now,"  says  Muhlenberg,  "  the  secrets  of  their 
hearts  were  revealed.  Three  of  the  twelve,  who  had  before 
made  up  their  minds  to  have  Kurtz,  became  restive ;  inti- 
mated that  if  Kurtz  would  not  be  appointed  as  the  regular 
pastor  they  would  resign  their  offices ;  that  the  congregation 
was  poor,  much  dispersed ;  that  the  richest  members  had  gone 
to  the  Moravians ;  that  they  could  not  raise  the  travelling 
expenses  of  Handschuh,  and  preferred  the  stronger  voice  of 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  183 

Kurtz,  etc.,  etc.  The  others,  however,  were  glad,  and  ex- 
pressed their  full  satisfaction  with  our  proposition."  Finally, 
all  united  in  the  same  view.  In  a  document  framed  with  the 
consent  of  Handschuh  he  was  to  make  a  trial  for  the  present, 
and  was  appointed  pastor  of  the  Lancaster  congregation  for 
half  a  year,  or  at  the  utmost  a  year,  with  the  reservation, 
that  in  case  of  the  death  of  Muhlenberg  or  Brunnholtz  their 
first  united  congregations  should  have  the  final  claim  upon 
him.  About  the  middle  of  May  following,  Handschuh,  ac- 
companied by  Schaum,  the  catechist,  moved  to  Lancaster  and 
entered  upon  his  field  of  labor.  Schaum  was  intended  for 
the  Lutheran  congregation  at  York,  there  to  test  his  pastoral 
ability,  the  congregation  having  for  some  time  petitioned  for 
a  pastor. 

April  26th,  Muhlenberg,  Brunnholtz,  and  Handschuh,  re- 
turning from  Lancaster,  held  services  at  Earltown  (now  New 
Holland),  distant  from  Lancaster  twelve  miles.  Here  a  Lu- 
theran congregation  was  organized  perhaps  soon  after  1733, 
in  which  year  J.  C.  Stoever  had  also  in  this  locality  begun 
a  church  record  with  two  entries  of  pastoral  acts  per- 
formed as  early  as  1730.  Lutherans  had  settled  some  years 
before  in  various  localities  in  the  neighborhood;  they  were 
united  subsequently  into  one  congregation.  Earltown  being 
selected  as  the  -most  suitable  place,  a  church  was  there  erected, 
probably  soon  after  1733.  J.  C.  Stoever  served  there  from  1730 
until  1746,  as  it  appears,  with  the  exception  of  one  year,  1732. 
When  he  moved  away,  Val.  Kraft,  who  had  an  influence  also 
at  Lancaster,  was  pastor  from  May,  1747,  until  March,  1748. 
The  Lutherans  had  petitioned  that  the  pastor  at  Lancaster 
might  also  to  some  extent  serve  them.  The  condition  of  the 
congregation  was  up  to  that  time  anything  but  satisfactory. 
Under  the  care  of  men  of  the  character  of  Stoever  as  he  was 
in  those  years,  and  of  Val.  Kraft  as  he  always  and  every- 
where proved  himself,  spiritual  life  could  not  increase.  The 
desire  to  receive  help  from  Muhlenberg  and  his  friends 
deserved  attention.  Certain  promises  were  given,  provided 
the  members  came  to  a  better  agreement  among  themselves 


1 84  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

and  were  willing  to  open  their  hearts  to  the  Spirit  from  on 
high.  Handschuh,  after  having  taken  up  his  residence  at 
Lancaster,  served  them  for  some  months  as  well  as  his  other 
engagements  permitted.  When  his  services  ceased,  Tob.  Wag- 
ner, then  residing  near  Reading,  became  pastor  at  Earltown, 
distant  from  Reading  about  thirty-six  miles — a  circumstance 
which,  as  such,  was  a  great  impediment  to  proper  pastoral 
care.  He  continued  pastor  there  until  1755. 

Miihlenberg,  Brunnholtz,  and  Handschuh  after  their  return 
to  Providence  (April  2/th)  took  a  work  in  hand  which  was  of 
much  importance  for  the  proper  character  of  the  public  ser- 
vices, the  administration  of  the  sacraments,  and  the  unification 
of  the  congregations.  Miihlenberg  says  in  his  diary  :  "  April 
28th  we  held  a  conference  at  Providence  and  deliberated  about 
a  suitable  liturgy  \Agende\  to  be  used  by  us  and  introduced 
into  our  congregations.  Thus  far,  we  had  used  a  small  form- 
ulary, but  had  nothing  definite,  in  all  its  parts  harmonious, 
since  we  thought  it  best  to  wait  for  the  arrival  of  more  labor- 
ers and  to  acquire  a  better  knowledge  of  the  conditions  of 
things  in  this  country.  To  adopt  the  Swedish  Liturgy  did 
not  appear  to  be  advantageous  or  necessary,  since  most  of  the 
members  of  our  congregations  from  the  districts  on  the  Rhine 
and  the  Main  considered  singing  of  collects  as  papal.  Neither 
could  we  select  a  liturgy  according  to  the  forms  to  which 
every  individual  had  been  accustomed,  since  almost  every 
country  town  or  village  has  its  own.  For  this  reason  we 
took  the  liturgy  of  the  Savoy  congregation  of  London  as 
the  basis,  abbreviated  it  or  made  additions  to  it  as  after  due 
consideration  of  the  circumstances  in  which  we  are  here 
placed  appeared  advisable  to  us  and  calculated  to  edify,  and 
adopted  it  tentatively  until  we  had  a  better  understanding 
of  the  matter,  and  determined  to  use  it  with  a  view  of  intro- 
ducing into  our  congregations  the  same  ceremonies,  forms, 
and  words.  But,  notwithstanding  this,  Herr  Pastor  Wagner 
and  Stoever  and  some  other  narrow-minded  men  took  occa- 
sion to  instigate  against  us  some  simple-hearted  people  by  the 
pretext  that  we  ought  to  introduce  the  Liturgy  of  Wiirtem- 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR   MUHLENBERG.  185 

berg  or  of  Zweibriicken  ;  and  they  made  them  also  believe  that 
we  intended  to  lead  them  away  from  the  Lutheran  doctrine 
and  church  order.  For  instance  :  We  thought  of  using  at'  the 
distribution  of  the  blessed  bread  and  cup  the  very  words  of 
the  Lord  Jesus :  '  Take  and  eat,  this  is  the  body  of  Jesus 
Christ/  etc. ;  '  Take  and  drink,  this  cup  is  the  new  testa- 
ment in  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ/  etc.  At  the  baptism  of 
children  we  intended  to  ask  the  sponsors,  '  Do  you  in  the 
name  of  this  child  renounce  ?'  etc.  On  these  points  our  oppo- 
nents tried  to  produce  agitation  even  before  we  had  finished 
our  work.  We  consequently  made  the  changes  at  once,  as 
the  troubled  consciences  wanted  it,  saying,  '  This  is  the  true 
body/  etc.,  '  This  is  the  true  blood/  etc.,  and,  addressing  the 
child  in  baptism,  '  Peter,  Paul,  Mary,  dost  thou  renounce  ?' 
etc." 

We  had  occasion  to  mention  the  name  of  York,  west  of 
the  Susquehanna.  The  attention  of  Muhlenberg  was,  as  we 
already  know,  in  1747  directed  to  the  Lutherans  in  that  town 
and  in  the  vicinity,  and  even  west  of  it,  as  well  as  to  those  at 
Lancaster,  in  such  a(  pressing  manner  that  he  says  in  his  diary, 
June  of  that  year,  he  was  necessitated  to  travel  through  Penn- 
sylvania to  Maryland.  It  was  a  missionary-tour  in  behalf  of 
the  Lutheran  congregations  and  dispersed  Lutherans  settled 
in  those  parts  toward  the  boundary  of  Maryland.  After  having 
celebrated  Whitsuntide  of  1747  with  his  congregations,  which 
assembled  in  large  numbers  on  the  occasion,  he  left  New 
Hanover,  June  roth,  in  the  enjoyment  of  go.od  health  and 
in  company  with  J.  J.  Loeser,  and  arrived  on  the  evening  of 
the  following  day  at  J.  C.  Weiser's  residence  at  Tulpehoken. 
J.  N.  Kurtz  had  been  laboring  diligently  there  since  Dec.  16, 
1746.  As  a  catechist  he  could  preach  and  teach,  and  also 
baptize.  In  very  exceptional  cases  catechists  were  permitted 
to  give  to  the  sick  in  peril  of  death  the  Lord's  Supper.  The 
public  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  was  left  to  the  reg- 
ularly-ordained ministers,  who  from  time  to  time  for  this  pur- 
pose visited  the  congregations  served  by  catechists.  For  this 
reason  Muhlenberg  now  administered  the  Lord's  Supper  at 


1 86  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Christ  Church,  Tulpehoken,  to  more  than  two  hundred  com- 
municants. He  found  the  spiritual  condition  of  the  congre- 
gation hopeful.  The  recently-erected  church,  built  of  free- 
stone, was  not  yet  quite  free  of  debt.  It  was  not  yet  provided 
with  pews,  but  Weiser  had  just-  then  advanced  the  sum  of 
money  necessary  for  that  purpose.  There  were  twenty  acres 
of  land  bought,  so  that  the  pastor  might  keep  a  horse  and  a 
cow.  The  congregation  had  just  begun  to  erect  a  commodi- 
ous, solid  parsonage  near  the  church,  high  upon  the  embank- 
ment of  the  river,  and  presenting  toward  the  west  a  lovely 
view  of  it.  This  parsonage  is  still  used.  A  fine  large  church 
was  erected  there  in  1785,  renovated  in  1885,  and  with  much 
taste  adapted  to  the  necessities  of  the  present  generation. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  Sunday,  Miihlenberg  rode  a 
distance  of  eight  or  nine  miles  to  the  Northkill  congregation 
— which  with  Tulpehoken  formed  then  one  parish — preached 
there  to  a  very  attentive  congregation,  and  prqmised  to  ad- 
minister the  Lord's  Supper  to  them  three  weeks  later.  He 
was  much  pleased  to  observe  that  the  people  were  greatly 
benefited  by  the  preaching  of  Kurtz  and  entertained  much 
respect  for  him.  In  external  things  also  they  provided  suffi- 
ciently and  willingly  for  him.  They  felt,  however,  the  need 
of  a  regularly  ordained  pastor  in  their  midst.  During  Muhl- 
enberg's  visit  to  Tulpehoken  and  his  more  extended  absence 
from  home  Kurtz  officiated  in  his  place  at  New  Hanover  and 
Providence. 

June  I Qth,  Miihlenberg  with  his  companion  Loeser  arrived 
at  Lancaster.  The  deplorable  condition  of  the  Lutheran 
congregation  in  those  days  in  consequence  of  the  influence 
of  the  pseudo-Lutheran-Moravian  agitator  Nyberg  is  already 
known  to  us.  He  had  attracted  to  his  side  about  eight  or 
ten  of  the  wealthiest  Lutheran  families  and  preached  to  his 
flock  in  his  newly-erected  church,  wherein  he  was  from  time 
to  time  assisted  by  a  Reformed  pastor,  Jacob  Lischy,  by 
Bishop  Cammerhof,  and  by  other  Moravians.  The  arrange- 
ment had  already  been  made  that  Kurtz  should  preach  to  the 
Lutherans  who  had  rejected  Nyberg,  and  should  serve  alter- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  l8/ 

nately  two  weeks  here  and  the  following  two  weeks  at  Tulpe- 
hoken.  During  the  absence  of  Kurtz  the  Lutherans  had  no 
service ;  in  consequence  of  which  numbers  of  them  would 
attend  Nyberg's  preaching  and  come  away  with  bad  impres- 
sions. This  served  to  keep  the  congregation  in  a  restless 
condition  and  to  demoralize  it.  There  was  strife  among  the 
members  as  well  as  among  its  officers.  Some  who  wished 
to  resign  were  dissuaded  by  Muhlenberg  from  doing  so 
under  present  circumstances.  He  preached  to  the  Lutherans 
June  2  ist,  first  Sunday  after  Trinity,  held  catechization,  bap- 
tized some  children,  and  persuaded  the  members  to  elect  a 
new  officer,  as  one  of  the  number  had  died. 

On  the  'same  day,  travelling  westward  with  Loeser,  they 
crossed,  ten  miles  distant  from  Lancaster,  the  Susquehanna 
in  a  boat  during  a  violent  storm.  Muhlenberg  says  in  his 
diary  that  during  the  great  danger  he  prayed  God  would  in  his 
mercy  avert  any  disaster,  as  the  Moravians,  in  malice,  might 
construe  such  a  thing  to  their  advantage.  When  they  finally, 
though  late  at  night,  arrived  at  York,  numbers  of  Lutherans 
in  their  joy  assembled,  in  spite  of  the  lateness  of  the  hour. 

When  Muhlenberg  paid  this  his  second  visit  to  York  he 
found  a  rapidly-growing  town.  York  county  was  separated 
from  Lancaster  county  and  made  a  new  district  Aug.  19,  1749. 
It  was  the  first  county  in  Pennsylvania  west  of  the  Susque- 
hanna. The  Proprietaries  of  Pennsylvania  were  averse  to  set- 
tlements on  lands  which  had  not  yet  been  obtained  from  the 
Indians  by  regular  contracts.  Not  before  1736  were  all  the 
claims  of  the  Five  Nations  upon  that  part  of  Pennsylvania 
satisfied.  Settlers  had,  however,  as  early  as  1729  entered. 
The  first  settlements  were  made  at  Kreutz  Creek  (a  name  of 
later  origin)  especially  by  Germans,  and  on  the  Pigeon  Hills  by 
English  immigrants.  To  the  difficulties  arising  from  the  un- 
certainty about  the  boundary-line  between  Pennsylvania  and 
Maryland  we  have  formerly  alluded. 

There  were  settlers  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  present  city 
of  York  already  in  1731.  The  oldest  record  of  the  Lutheran 
congregation  begins  in  September,  1733.  This  book  was 


1 88  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

bought  by  the  contributions  of  twenty-four  male  persons,  six- 
teen of  whom  arrived  in  the  years  1731  and  1732;  only  four 
of  the  entire  number  passed  through  Philadelphia  before  1731. 
In  September,  1733,  during  one  of  his  pastoral  explorations, 
Stoever  visited  that  part  of  the  country  and  gathered  the 
Lutherans  settled  on  the  Codorus  Creek  into  a  congregation. 
In  the  church  records  he  entered  baptisms  and  marriages ; 
there  are  records  of  funerals  only  after  1748.  The  congrega- 
tion had  elders  and  deacons  from  1733.  Services  at  first  were 
most  probably  held  in  a  private  dwelling.  On  the  land  on 
which  the  town  of  York  arose  no  houses  had  at  that  time 
been  erected.  The  plan  for  building  the  town  dates  from 
1741.  The  settlers  were  farmers,  who  lived  each  on  the  land 
he  had  taken  up.  Within  a  few  years  the  town  increased 
considerably.  It  naturally  formed  the  centre  of  the  Lutheran 
congregation,  the  pastor  serving  in  later  years  also  the  Lu- 
therans on  Kreutz  Creek.  Stoever  came  usually  once  every 
month  to  York  from  his  residence,  near  Earltown,  for  a  period 
of  about  ten  years;  in  1743  he  resigned  at  York,  probably 
finding  his  field  of  labor  too  extensive.  April  28,  1743,  David 
Candler  served  at  York.  Of  him  we  know  that  he  lived  about 
a  mile  south-west  of  the  present  Hanover,  that  he  was  married, 
that  in  May,  1743,  he  began  to  gather  a  congregation  at  Han- 
over (then  McAllistertown),  and  another  on  the  Monocacy,  ten 
miles  east  of  Frederick,  Md.  Whether  he  were  ordained,  or, 
if  so,  by  whom,  we  do  not  know.  After  May,  1744,  he  made 
no  further  entries  in  the  church  records.  Possibly  the  work  in 
such  a  field  and  under  difficult  circumstances  was  too  much 
for  his  constitution.  Leaving  an  excellent  character  to  pos- 
terity, he  died  Dec.,  1744.  Law.  T.  Nyberg,  who  just  then 
had  taken  charge  of  the  Lutheran  congregation  at  Lancaster, 
spoke  at  his  grave.  In  that  year  the  first  church,  a  log  build- 
ing, was  erected  at  York,  on  ground  still  owned  by  the 
Lutherans  there.  A  church  was  probably  erected  there  in 
the  times  of  Stoever,  though  in  another  locality.  After  Can- 
dler's  death  the  Lutherans  at  York  were  served  by  Nyberg, 
who  had  there  a  sympathizer  with  his  Moravianism — Jacob 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  189 

Lischy,  the  Reformed  preacher  already  mentioned.  Nyberg 
had  promised  to  have  a  regular  Lutheran  pastor  sent  also  to 
this  congregation  from  Sweden,  which  promise  he  never  in- 
tended to  fulfil ;  but  he  tried  to  introduce  emissaries  from 
Bethlehem,  the  Moravian  headquarters  in  America,  at  York, 
at  Monocacy,  and  also  at  other  places.  What  his  real  inten- 
tions were  could  not  remain  long  concealed,  and  the  reaction 
began  at  York  and  other  localities  as  far  as  Frederick,  and 
ended  Nyberg's  services  among  Lutherans.  At  York,  where 
a  decided  Lutheran  parochial  teacher,  Bartholomew  Maul,  ex- 
ercised an  influence,  it  was  resolved  to  continue  the  services 
regularly,  to  have  every  Sunday  a  sermon  read  and  the  youth 
instructed,  so  as  to  prepare  them  for  the  confirmation  by  a 
regular  Lutheran  pastor. 

Miihlenberg  says  that  at  this  his  second  visit  to  York  he 
felt  greatly  embarrassed.  The  Lutheran  and  the  Reformed 
congregations  were  both  divided — the  latter,  in  consequence 
of  Lischy's  underhanded  working  for  Moravianism;  the  former, 
through  the  arts  of  Nyberg,  who  by  his  animated,  lively  man- 
ner of  preaching  knew  how  to  attract  those  who  had  some 
experience  of  spiritual  life.  But  there  were  on  each  side, 
among  friends  and  foes  of  Nyberg,  numbers  of  individuals 
who  had  experienced  a  spiritual  awakening,  and  listened  with 
delight  to  Muhlenberg's  preaching;  only  such  words  as  "  law," 
"  repentance/'  "  prayer,"  etc.,  which  in  the  Moravian  peculiar 
religious  phraseology  of  that  time  had  fallen  into  contempt, 
were  unwelcome  to  the  Nyberg  people,  though  he  clearly 
demonstrated  their  truth  and  propriety  from  the  Bible  and 
the  Symbolical  Books  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Whenever  he 
felt  necessitated  to  controvert  the  preaching  of  Nyberg  and 
the  Moravians,  they  almost  thought  that  he  was  sinning 
against  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  was,  however,  pleased  to  see 
that  the  controversies  then  going  on  among  the  people  had 
served  to  make  the  Lutherans,  the  anti-Nyberg  party,  search 
more  diligently  the  Scriptures  and  the  Catechism.  Laudable 
as  their  zeal  for  orthodox  doctrine  was,  Muhlenberg  regretted 
that  they  did  not  always  exercise  proper  moderation  nor  in 


IQO  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

every  case  adorn  pure  doctrine  with  a  holy  walk  and  conver- 
sation. Yet  he  was  happy  to  see  that  some  of  the  Lutherans 
had  during  the  warm  disputes  acted  in  such  a  uniformly  Chris- 
tian, moderate,  and  circumspect  manner  that  he  ascribed  it  to 
a  special  grace. 

Travelling  with  his  companion  onward,  on  June  22d  on  the 
extreme  borders  of  Pennsylvania  they  reached  the  Cone- 
wago  congregation,  which  they  found  in  equal  confusion. 
Here,  also,  Nyberg  had  friends  and  antagonists.  Muhlen- 
berg  spoke  in  kindness  to  them  and  made  efforts  to  recon- 
cile them.  He  enjoyed,  apparently,  the  respect  of  both  sides. 
He  promised  them  that  as  soon  as  one  of  the  united  ministers 
should  settle  at  York  they  would  from  time  to  time  be  visited, 
and  that,  if  ever  possible,  he  would  find  a  good  teacher  for 
them,  to  instruct  the  youth  and  on  Sundays  to  read  a  sermon 
to  the  congregation.  Some  of  the  partisans  of  Nyberg  com- 
plained that  the  others  had  for  a  time  been  friends  of  the  ill- 
reputed  Carl  Rudolph  and  had  allowed  him  to  preach.  The 
others  excused  themselves,  saying  that  he  had  at  first  imposed 
upon  them  by  his  fair  show  and  the  ordination  documents  and 
seals  he  exhibited,  but  that  they  had  cast  him  out  as  soon  as 
they  learned  what  a  wicked  fellow  he  was. 

On  June  22d,  Miihlenberg  preached  to  them  in  a  large  barn, 
as  many  people  had  assembled  from  near  and  far.  Some  re- 
quested the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  but  he  was 
obliged  to  refuse,  saying  that  they  needed  first  proper  repent- 
ance for  their  sins  and  application  of  the  word  of  God.  He 
baptized  some  children,  at  the  same  time  reminding  parents 
and  sponsors  of  their  duties.  He  also  met  with  some  who 
in  the  very  first  years  of  his  labors  had  been  members  of  his 
congregations,  and,  hearing  him  proclaim  the  word  of  God, 
were  now  moved  to  tears  and  bitterly  complained  that  they 
were  without  the  means  of  grace. 

Two  men  had  arrived  from  Maryland  to  take  Miihlenberg 
to  a  place  thirty-six  miles  off.  They  started  at  two  o'clock 
p.  M.  in  a  drenching  rain.  They  made  eighteen  miles  over 
terrible  roads  before  night,  but  found  no  house  at  which  to 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  IQI 

stay,  and  were  obliged  to  continue  riding  through  the  wilder- 
ness, with  the  rain  pouring  down  heavier  and  the  poor  horses 
wading  up  to  the  knees  through  water  and  mire,  until,  at 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  totally  worn  out  and  half  dead, 
they  reached  their  quarters.  This  was  the  place  called 
Monocacy,  ten  miles  east  of  Frederick,  Md.  Muhlenberg 
found  here  a  log  church,  but  the  congregation  also  divided 
in  the  same  way  as  in  other  localities.  Nyberg  had  also  been 
manoeuvring  here,  and  had  tried  to  smuggle  a  Moravian  into 
a  Lutheran  congregation.  Here,  also,  the  church  was  finally 
closed  against  him ;  but  he  had  found  some  to  defend  him 
against  the  others,  as  for  a  time  they  had  allowed  themselves 
to  be  deceived  by  Carl  Rudolph.  For  a  year  they  had  peti- 
tioned for  one  of  the  united  ministers  to  come  and  administer 
the  Lord's  Supper.  As,  since  they  had  discarded  Nyberg  and 
Carl  Rudolph,  they  had  shown  respect  for  Muhlenberg  and 
his  brethren  in  the  sacred  office,  and  confidence  in  them,  and 
had  sent  a  contribution  for  the  enlarging  of  the  Germantown 
church,  their  petition  could  not  be  refused.  They  were  pleased 
to  see  Muhlenberg,  though  he  felt  sad  when  he  witnessed  the 
disturbed  condition  of  the  congregation,  and  was  convinced 
that  both  parties  had  acted  uncharitably. 

June  24th,  while  the  drenching  rain  continued,  most  of  the 
Lutherans  assembled  at  the  church ;  three  or  four  of  those 
leaning  to  Moravianism  were  also  present.  Before  the  ser- 
vices began  Muhlenberg  wrote  in  the  English  language,  in 
the  book  of  church  records,  a  number  of  articles  concerning 
the  order  to  be  observed  in  the  congregation — among  others, 
that  the  German  Lutherans  professed  their  faith  in  the  holy 
word  of  God  as  given  by  prophets  and  apostles,  in  the  Unal- 
tered Augsburg  Confession  and  the  other  Symbolical  Books 
of  the  Church ;  that  wherever  possible  they  had  the  sacra- 
ments administered  among  themselves,  in  accordance  with 
those  writings,  by  regularly  called  and  ordained  pastors,  and 
consequently,  with  those  as  a  guide,  would  not  tolerate 
among  their  membership  those  who  were  known  grossly  and 
wilfully  to  sin  against  the  holy  laws  of  God  contained  in  the 


192  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

commandments  or  against  those  of  the  Christian  civil  authority. 
After  publicly  reading  these  articles  to  the  congregation  and 
explaining  them  in  the  German  language,  he  requested  all 
who  were  Lutherans,  or  intended  to  be  and  to  remain  such, 
to  sign  their  names.  The  Lutherans  present  willingly  gave 
their  names.  The  Moravians,  however,  did  not,  but  stated 
that  heretofore  they  had  observed  all  those  articles ;  that  for 
some  years  they  had  had  no  regular  pastor  and  had  been 
occasionally  visited  by  a  Swedish  or  a  German  minister  from 
Pennsylvania,  whom  in  their  poverty  they  could  not  properly 
pay;  that  they  had  therefore  been  necessitated  to  call  a  Luther- 
an pastor  from  Bethlehem,  Brother  Nicky.  They  believed  that 
he  taught  pure  doctrine  according  to  the  word  of  God  and  the 
Symbolical  Books,  but  the  other,  larger,  party  opposed  his  in- 
troduction into  the  church,  and  had  permitted  such  an  unor- 
dained,  wicked  deceiver  as  Carl  Rudolph  to  hold  public  services 
in  it.  For  these  reasons  they  had  separated  from  such  a  con- 
gregation, and  intended  to  erect  a  church  on  a  piece  of  ground 
of  their  own.  The  others  said  that  they  knew  of  no  Penn- 
sylvania pastor  who  had  complained  of  not  having  been  paid 
properly  for  his  services.  Miihlenberg  asked  if  they  alluded 
to  him,  or  if  they  had  ever  given  or  he  had  demanded  any 
money  of  them ;  which  both  sides  denied.  He  told  them 
that  both  parties  had  erred  and  been  the  cause  of  much  re- 
proach and  injury  to  the  truth — that  the  sainted  Luther  had 
warned  his  people  against  two  devils,  a  black  one  and  a 
white  one,  and  that  the  emissaries  of  both  do  much  harm. 
Then,  after  singing  with  them  a  penitential  hymn,  he  preached 
on  the  Prodigal  Son  (Luke  xv.  n.)  To  his  question,  put  to 
those  who  leaned  to  Moravianism,  whether  they  would  now 
unite  with  the  others  and  sign  their  names  to  the  articles  in 
the  minute-book,  they  said  that  they  would,  provided  he  would 
remain  and  be  the  pastor.  After  some  exchange  of  senti- 
ments the  larger  party  modestly  expressed  their  views,  and 
said  that  they  had  heard  him  this  day  for  the  first  time ;  that 
he  had  spoken  of  repentance,  faith,  godliness,  while  the  Mora- 
vian Brethren  had  in  their  sermons  ridiculed  such  words  as 


HENR  Y  MEL  CPU  OR   MUHLENBER  G.  193 

these,  together  with  the  terms  "  law,"  "  prayer,"  and  the  im- 
portant truths  connected  with  them.  Knowing  what  erratic 
extravagances,  in  those  years  of  a  sickly  religious  excitement, 
prevailed  among  the  Moravians,  we  can  understand  the  crude- 
ly-expressed but  instinctively-true  feelings  of  these  opponents 
of  Moravianism.  After  further  admonition  and  entreaties, 
Miihlenberg  so  far  succeeded  in  restoring  the  two  parties  to 
a  better  understanding  that  the  representatives  of  the  two 
sides  expressed  their  readiness  to  forgive  each  other  for  the 
harsh  words  they  had  used.  Thus,  says  Miihlenberg,  they 
at  least  said ;  of  their  hearts  he  could  not  judge.  Those  who 
had  given  their  names  now  met,  elected  elders  and  deacons, 
and  promised  to  rule  the  church  in  agreement  with  the  arti- 
cles to  which  they  had  given  their  signatures.  They  entreated 
Miihlenberg  to  administer  the  Lord's  Supper.  He  finally  con- 
sented, but  took  occasion  to  clear  his  conscience,  and,  while 
they  were  still  present,  to1  address  the  Moravians  most  for- 
cibly on  the  necessity  of  repentance  and  of  walking,  clothed 
in  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  in  his  holy  footsteps.  They 
all  bowed  their  knees  before  the  Divine  Majesty,  and  after 
confession  and  absolution  received  the  sacrament. 

Miihlenberg,  in  giving  his  reasons  for  entering  these  arti- 
cles in  the  minute-book  of  the  church,  says  he  was  moved  to 
do  so  because  the  Moravians  habitually,  in  every  congrega- 
tion where  they  make  inroads,  attract  to  themselves  the  most 
respected,  liberal,  and  richest  people,  and  as  soon  as  they 
have  a  party  on  their  side  the  strife  begins  with  words,  often 
leads  to  deeds  of  violence  about  the  possession  of  churches 
and  school-houses,  and  produces  the  most  distressing  alter- 
cations and  bad  feelings  between  parents  and  children,  hus- 
bands and  wives,  brothers  and  sisters,  neighbors  and  relatives, 
whereby  the  words  of  Matt.  x.  34-37  are  perverted,  and  those 
found  in  Jer.  xiv.  14,  xxiii.  21,  Gal.  v.  15,  2  Cor.  xii.  20  ap- 
plied to  those  for  whom  they  were  not  meant.  The  English 
magistrates,  noticing  the  tumults  and  strife  among  the  Ger- 
mans, do  not  understand  their  cause,  while  the  Moravians 
are  not  slow  to  bring  the  Germans  into  bad  repute  as  rebels 

13 


194  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

against  God  and  the  civil  government.  He  also  points  out 
that  laws  and  rulers  are  indispensably  necessary  to  prevent 
indifferent  individuals  from  taking  up  with  vagabonds  and 
allowing  them  to  act  as  pastors.  But,  says  he,  laws  and  sig- 
natures will  be  of  little  avail  unless  we  furnish  the  helpless 
people  with  suitable  godly  ministers. 

Proceeding  farther,  June  25th,  they  came,  after  a  ten-mile 
ride,  to  Frederick,  a  town  just  then  laid  out.  A  number  of 
Lutherans  living  here  were  members  of  the  Monocacy  congre- 
gation, but  had  on  the  previous  day  been  prevented  by  the 
pouring  rain  from  meeting  with  the  others.  Most  of  them  gave 
their  signatures  to  the  articles.  They  also  elected  elders  and 
deacons  from  their  own  number.  Some  few  had  attached  them- 
selves to  Schmidt,  whom  Miihlenberg,  as  previously  stated, 
after  his  arrival  in  Pennsylvania  had  met  at  New  Hanover;  he 
had  come  back  to  Maryland  from  a  visit  to  Virginia.  Miihlen- 
berg found  a  large  assembly  of  English  and  German  people. 
After  preparatory  services  he  administered  the  Lord's  Supper 
to  a  number  of  Lutherans  who  had  earnestly  requested  to 
receive  it,  baptized  some  children,  and  united  two  couples  in 
holy  wedlock.  During  the  evening  he  returned  to  his  quar- 
ters at  Monocacy.  Here  and  in  the  town  the  Lutherans  en- 
treated him  to  consider  their  destitution,  and  to  intercede  for 
them  with  the  Fathers  in  Europe.  They  promised  to  keep 
united  among  themselves  as 'long  as  possible.  We  add  here 
that,  certainly  in  1743,  Dav.  Candler — of  whom  we  heard  in 
connection  with  York — served  the  Lutherans  at  Monocacy 
and  at  Frederick.  To  the  latter  place  Gabr.  Naesman,  pastor 
of  the  Swedish  church  at  Philadelphia,  made  a  visit  in  1746. 
In  1749  old  Val.  Kraft  settled  at  Frederick.  He  was  not 
acknowledged  as  the  pastor  of  the  congregation;  finding, 
however,  some  adherents,  he  was  permitted  to  preach  at  some 
places.  He  was  apparently  in  destitute  circumstances  ;  was 
charitably  assisted  also  by  the  English  people,  and  died  there 
in  1751.  Another  irregular  pastor,  Streiter,  a  schoolmaster, 
who  had  never  been  ordained,  in  1743  had  served  the  con- 
gregations in  Old  Goshenhoppen  and  Indianfield  in  Eastern 


HENRY  MELCHIOR   MUHLENBERG.  195 

Pennsylvania,  moved  from  place  to  place,  and  tried  in  1751  to 
get  hold  of  the  Frederick  congregation.  The  more  numer- 
ous and  better  part  of  the  members,  acting  in  accordance  with 
the  articles  of  Muhlenberg,  successfully  opposed  him,  and,  in 
consequence  of  a  petition  sent  by  them  to  the  united  min- 
isters, J.  H.  Schaum,  stationed  at  York,  paid  them  visits  in 
1751  and  1752.  la  the  latter  year  Rev.  Bernhard  Michael 
Hausihl  (later  often  found  "  Hauseal ") — of  whom  we  shall 
hear  more  hereafter — moved  there  and  found  Streiter  still 
present  with  a  party  stubbornly  attached  to  him,  and  the  con- 
gregation in 'a  deplorable  condition.  From  the  beginning  of 
1753  until  December,  1758,  Hausihl  was  recognized  as  pastor 
of  the  congregation. 

June  26th,  Muhlenberg  and  his  companion,  J.  J.  Loeser, began 
their  journey  homeward.  After  riding  a  few  miles  they  were 
met  by  an  English  gentleman,  who  invited  them  to  his  house, 
offered  them  refreshments,  and  desired  to  know  Muhlenberg's 
opinion  of  the  condition  of  the  German  church-members  in 
Maryland.  Muhlenberg  said  that  all  of  them  needed  deeper 
experience  in  true  repentance,  living  faith,  and  practical  godli- 
ness. His  host,  who  was  strongly  inclined  to  the  Moravians, 
replied  that  the  "  small  party  "  were  friends  of  Jesus.  Muhl- 
enberg took  occasion  to  show  him  that,  while  he  was  no  per- 
sonal enemy  to  any  of  the  Moravians,  he  was  averse  to  their 
crooked  ways,  their  hanging  the  cloak  as  the  wind  blew, 
adapting  themselves  in  England  to  the  Anglican  Church,  in 
Switzerland  to  the  Reformed,  in  Russia  to  the  Russian 
Church,  etc.;  that  they  taught  in  a  manner  which  was  not 
in  agreement  with  the  word  of  God,  as  could  be  learned 
from  some  of  their  own  publications,  though  they  had  never, 
as  a  Church,  published  a  confession  pf  faith.  We  add,  that  this 
was  done  in  1778  by  Bishop  Spangenberg,  who  published  the 
Idea  fidci  fratntm  ;  which  book,  however,  does  not  sanction 
any  of  the  errors  of  former  years  and  the  practices  used  in 
the  times  when  Muhlenberg  unavoidably  came  into  conflict 
with  Zinzendorf  and  his  adherents.  Miihlenberg's  host  cer- 
tainly was  a  well-meaning  man,  who,  unfortunately,  had  per- 


196  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

sonal  knowledge  only  of  such  so-called  Lutheran  pastors  as 
Carl  Rudolph,  Streiter,  Schmidt,  and  others  of  a  similar  cha- 
racter, contrasted  with  whom  the  Moravian  emissaries  were 
certainly,  as  to  their  personal  conduct,  deserving  of  all  respect. 
But  as  that  gentleman  told  his  guest  that  the  Anglican  clergy- 
man of  the  parish  to  which  he  belonged  was  a  drunkard,  and 
that  his  predecessor  in  the  office  had  been  like  him,  we  can 
readily  understand  the  man's  preference  for  the  much  more 
respectable  Moravians.  Finally,  his  host  begged  Miihlenberg 
to  seek  and  send  a  man  who,  being  sound  in  the  fundamental 
doctrines,  repentance  and  faith,  would  walk  according  to  them ; 
this  would  gladden  his  heart  and  those  of  many  others. 

The  travellers  that  day  came  to  Conewago,  and  at  noon  the 
following  day  arrived  at  York.  Here  Miihlenberg  had  at 
once  to  make  the  necessary  preparations  for  a  proper  celebra- 
tion of  the  Lord's  Supper  on  the  following  day.  He  entered 
in  the  church  records  the  names  of  those  who  desired  to  par- 
ticipate in  it.  He  reminded  the  officers  and  members,  who 
had  saved  the  congregation  from  the  designs  and  intrigues  of 
the  Moravians,  to  beware  of  distraction  and  contentions,  to 
turn,  praying  for  forgiveness  of  their  sins, 'to  God,  and  now 
impartially  to  testify  concerning  the  character  of  every  one  of 
those  who  wished  to  be  admitted  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  He 
also  listened  to  charges  against  the  aged  parochial  teacher 
B.  Maul,  which  to  a  large  extent  were  found  to  be  exaggera- 
tions. Some  of  the  officers  were  earnestly  entreated  to  have 
more  control  over  their  excited  feelings  and  words.  Some  of 
the  members  who  handed  in  their  names  were  required  at  once 
to  make  peace  with  those  with  whom  they  had  been  quarrelling. 
The  name  of  one  member,  who  was  unwilling  to  be  reconciled 
with  the  justice  of  the  peace  who  brought  charges  against 
him,  was  rejected  until  he  would  show  a  better  spirit.  The 
officers  charged  some  who  by  the  preaching  of  Nyberg  had 
been  spiritually  awakened  with  having  absented  themselves 
from  the  regular  church  services  and  attached  themselves  to 
Nyberg  and  his  friends ;  they  were  not  willing  to  promise  an 
exclusive  attachment  to  the  congregation  unless  a  pastor  of  a 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  197 

godly  character  and  life  were  sent  to  them  by  the  united  min- 
isters. The  reading  of  a  sermon  on  Sundays  was  not  suf- 
ficient for  them ;  they  found  greater  pleasure  at  home  in 
searching  the  word  of  God  and  the  Catechism.  They  were 
privately  addressed,  and  three  or  four  of  them  appeared  the 
following  day  at  the  Lord's  Table.  With  the  officers  also 
Miihlenberg  conversed  separately,  listening  to  their  opinions 
and  advising  caution  and  moderation. 

At  four  o'clock  that  afternoon  Muhlenberg  held  preparatory 
services,  spoke  on  Matt.  xi.  8,  and  was  pleased  to  see  a  very 
close  and  appreciative  attention  to  his  words.  After  these 
exercises  he  examined  a  number  of  catechumens  whom  the 
school-teacher  had  instructed  with  satisfactory  results  ac- 
cording to  the  "  Order  of  Salvation,"  and  admonished  them 
as  candidates  for  confirmation,  spoke  to  some  individuals 
about  their  spiritual  state,  and  in  the  evening  gathered  the 
officers  to  converse  with  them  on  religious  subjects.  On  the 
following  morning,  Sunday,  June  28th,  some  other  persons, 
coming  from  great  distances,  handed  in  their  names ;  with 
these  also  preparatory  services  were  held.  At  the  public  ser- 
vices almost  the  half  of  the  large  assembly  were  obliged  to 
stand  outside  of  the  church :  some  had  come  a  distance  of 
ten,  and  even  twenty,  miles.  Muhlenberg  preached  on  the 
great  marriage- feast  (Matt.  xxii.  2),  baptized  a  number  of  chil- 
dren, examined  and  confirmed  fifteen  catechumens,  adminis- 
tered the  Lord's  Supper  to  two  hundred  communicants,  offered 
thanks  with  all  kneeling,  and  dismissed  the  congregation.  In 
the  evening  he  was  the  guest  of  the  justice  of  the  peace  men- 
tioned above,  who  belonged  to  the  Reformed  Church  and  was 
strongly  influenced  by  the  Moravians.  He  gave  his  views  to 
him  about  Nyberg  and  his  crooked  ways  in  a  manner  no  less 
dignified  than  decided. 

Having  on  June  2Qth  safely  crossed  the  Susquehanna  River 
and  arrived  at  Lancaster,  he  met  once  more  with  all  the  elders 
and  deacons  of  the  Lutheran  congregation,  and  tried  his  best 
to  heal  all  the  dangerous  dissensions  existing  among  them. 
He  also  made  arrangements  with  them  that  J.  N.  Kurtz, 


198  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

whenever  he  paid  his  bi-weekly  visits  there,  should  not 
lodge  in  an  inn,  but  in  a  private  dwelling.  On  the  even- 
ing of  June  3<Dth  he  was  again  among  his  relatives  at  Tul- 
pehoken,  where,  July  1st  to  3d,  he  continued  the  instruction 
given  by  Kurtz  to  some  catechumens ;  on  the  4th  held  pre- 
paratory services  at  Northkill ;  on  the  5th  preached  there, 
baptized  some  children,  examined  and  confirmed  the  cate- 
chumens, administered  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  rode  eight 
miles  to  the  more  numerous  meeting  at  Christ  Church  to 
hold  services  there.  Returning  to  the  residence  of  Weiser, 
he  found  an  Indian  chief  there  with  his  retinue.  Concerning 
the  conversion  of  the  Indians,  he  gives  in  his  diary  Weiser's 
views  on  this  subject — viz. :  That  among  many  other  rules  it 
would  be  necessary  for  missionaries  to  live  among  them,  mas- 
ter their  language,  adopt  as  much  as  possible  their  manners 
and  clothing,  leading,  however,  blameless  lives ;  translate 
Scripture  truths  into  the  Indian  language  in  the  plainest 
manner ;  deliver  the  law  and  the  gospel  to  them,  singing 
the  Indian  melodies  to  create  an  impression;  and  then  pa- 
tiently wait  for  God's  blessing  and  the  fruits  of  their  labor. 
Large  numbers  of  Indians  were  in  those  days  found  in  most 
parts  of  Pennsylvania.  Muhlenberg  had  frequent  occasion  to 
meet  them  and  to  show  his  good-will  toward  them,  though  he 
could  not  work  for  their  conversion  in  a  direct  way,  since  his 
time,  strength,  and  talents  were  exhaustively  employed  in  other 
directions.  He  had  at  a  certain  time  exercised  his  hospitality 
to  one  of  their  chiefs  and  his  companions  at  his  house  at 
Providence.  Seventeen  years  later  that  chief  reminded  him 
of  that  act  of  kindness,  adding  that  on  that  occasion  the 
Indians  had  invented  for  Muhlenberg  a  special  name — viz. 
Gachswtmgarorachs,  indicative  of  the  peculiar  work  of  a 
sachem  or  teacher,  whose  words  ought  to  go  through  the 
hard,  obstinate  minds  of  men  like  a  saw  through  knotty 
trunks  of  trees.  He  also  said  that  in  former  times  one  of 
their  own  sachems  had  been  given  that  name. 

July   /th,   Muhlenberg,  with   his    companion,   returned   to 
Providence,  where  he  found   his  colleague  Brunnholtz  and 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  199 

the  Rev.  J.  C.  Hartwig.  Brunnholtz  soon  became  sick  with 
the  measles,  on  which  occasion  Miihlenberg  prescribed  for 
him,  and  saw  his  efforts — he  describes  his  modus  operandi — 
crowned  with  success.  John  Christopher  Hartwig — whose 
acquaintance  Miihlenberg  made  at  that  time,  and  with  whom, 
under  various  circumstances,  he  afterward  came  into  contact — 
was  a  native  of  the  province  of  Thiiringen  in  Germany,  was 
born  Jan.  6,  1714,  and  died,  eighty-two  years  old,  July  17, 
1796,  at  the  residence  of  the  Livingston  family,  near  Cler- 
mont,  on  the  Hudson.  After  having  finished  his  university 
course  in  Germany,  and  having  been  for  a  short  time  engaged 
in  missionary  work  among  the  Jews,  he  followed  a  call,  given 
him  through  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wagner,  senior  of  the  Hamburg 
ministry,  to  Palatine  Lutheran  congregations  on  the  Hud- 
son— Camp  and  Rhinebeck.  On  his  arrival  in  the  New 
World  he  landed  at  Philadelphia.  With  Berkenmeier  and  his 
associates  on  the  Hudson  he  had  no  sympathy.  Berkenmeier, 
who  was  to  an  extent  the  cause  of  his  coming  here,  and  found 
that  he  was  not  congenial,  was  for  this  and  other  reasons 
averse  to  him,  and  denounced  him  in  four  pamphlets  as  a 
Moravian.  It  was  natural  that  Hartwig  should  seek  asso- 
ciation with  Muhlenberg  and  his  friends,  with  whom  he  cer-< 
tainly  stood  in  nearer  spiritual  affinity,  though  he  totally 
lacked  Miihlenberg's  practical  wisdom,  perseverance,  energy, 
and  success.  That  he  remained  a  bachelor  all  his  life  may 
have  contributed  to  his  unsteadiness.  That  in  an  underhand- 
ed way  he  found  fault  with  Muhlenberg  for  not  having  taken 
the  part  of  Wolf  in  the  Raritan  congregational  difficulties 
proves  that  as  a  friend  he  was  unreliable  and  as  a  judge 
either  shortsighted  or  unjust.  The  gift  of  his  estate  by  will  to 
mission- work  among  the  Indians — to  which  interest  it  never 
was  applied — proves  that  he  had  the  increase  of  the  kingdom 
of  Christ  at  heart. 

In  the  month  of  August  in  the  same  year  (1747)  Muhlen- 
berg paid  a  visit  to  the  Lutherans  in  Upper  Milford,  Saccum, 
and  probably  some  more  distant  localities,  since  he  tells  us 
that  the  distance  on  his  return  was  thirty  miles.  His  expo- 


200  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

sure  to  rain  and  storm  after  his  return  brought  on  a  burning 
fever,  and  he  was  laid  up  for  two  weeks ;  yet,  on  account  of 
certain  pastoral  duties,  he  left  his  bed  and  house  too  soon, 
and  had  to  suffer,  in  consequence,  with  intermittent  fever. 
J.  J.  Loeser,  his  companion  on  the  western  tour,  was  also 
troubled  with  fever  for  twelve  weeks.  In  the  district  to  which 
Upper  Milford  and  Saccum  (Saucon)  belonged  Lutherans 
were  most  probably  found  years  before  Miihlenberg  took  an 
interest  in  them.  From  1745  he  visited  them  once  every  four 
weeks — occasionally,  also,  sent  them  J.  Fr.  Vigera,  J.  N. 
Kurtz,  and  J.  J.  Loeser.  The  people  were  pleased  to  hear 
Loeser  read  to  them  one  or  the  other  of  Rambach's  ser- 
mons, or  catechize  the  young,  or  even  in  cases  of  extreme 
necessity  baptize  their  children.  There  was  much  regret 
when,  in  October,  1748,  Loeser  was  called  to  Lancaster.  In 
February  of  the  same  year,  Miihlenberg,  in  travelling  to  those 
congregations,  was  in  great  danger  of  losing  his  life.  During 
the  visit  in  that  year  mentioned  above  he  gave  to  these 
churches  a  certain  organization  by  selecting  and  installing 
elders  and  deacons.  But  from  those  points  his  missionary 
work  branched  out  in  various  directions.  As  special  local- 
ities, Birkensee  (now  Perkasie),  Easton,  Macungie,  Salisbury, 
and  others  may  be  mentioned.  When  Miihlenberg  could  no 
longer  personally  attend  to  these  outposts,  he  took  care  that 
other  suitable  men  continued  the  work ;  but  his  interest  in 
their  welfare  never  ceased,  and  he  saw  numbers  of  self-sup- 
porting congregations  established  in  these  parts. 

We  remember  that  after  Miihlenberg's  visit  in  the  year  1747 
to  York,  since  no  pastor  was  found  for  the  congregation, 
things  there  were  left  essentially  in  their  former  condition, 
with  this  exception  :  that  through  Miihlenberg's  efforts  the 
Lutheran  cause  was  strengthened  against  Moravian  attacks. 
Probably  services  were  regularly  held  on  Sunday  in  the 
church,  the  school-teacher  reading  a  sermon.  When,  in  May, 
1748,  Handschuh  accepted  the  call  from  the  Lancaster  con- 
gregation, the  interests  of  York  were  again  considered,  and 
it  was  resolved  to  send  J.  H.  Schaum  there  as  a  catechist. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2OI 

May  17,  1748,  he  was  introduced  by  Handschuh  to  the  con- 
gregation. Handschuh  also  held  confirmation  and  administered 
the  Lord's  Supper.  Handschuh  then  returning  to  Lancaster, 
Schaum  began  his  pastoral  labors.  His  charge  consisted  of  the 
congregations  at  York,  Conewago  (Hanover),  and  Bermudian. 
Dissensions  still  existing  at  York  greatly  impeded  his  efforts, 
but  the  menace  of  the  united  pastors  that  they  would  take 
him  away  had  a  wholesome  effect ;  the  parties  showed  a  will- 
ingness to  be  reconciled,  and  Schaum  had  within  a  year 
gained  the  respect  and  good-will  of  the  people  to  such  an 
extent  that  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year  they  requested 
his  ordination. 

Dec.  9,  1747,  Rev.  J.  N.  Kurtz  was  united  in  wedlock  by 
Miihlenberg  to  Miss  Anna  Elizab.  Seidel  of  New  Hanover. 
J.  J.  Loeser,  the  teacher — who,  as  he  well  deserved,  is  some- 
times honored  with  the  title  "  catechist " — was  married  Nov. 
10,  1747,  at  New  Hanover  to  Miss  Mary  Margaret  Epple. 
Miihlenberg,  referring  to  this  event,  says  in  his  diary :  "  Dur- 
ing the  present  winter  Jac.  Loeser  attends  to  the  school  at 
New  Hanover ;  he  was  almost  necessitated  to  marry,  since  he 
had  to  live  quite  alone  in  the  school-house  and  could  no  longer 
take  care  of  his  household.  He  married  the  stepdaughter  of 
one  of  the  deacons.  She  has  led  a  quiet,  respectable  life,  and 
now  takes  care  of  his  household,  which  allows  him  to  attend 
better  to  his  duties  as  a  teacher.  He  still  travels  every  third 
week  to  the  mountains,  to  Saccum  and  Upper  Milford,  reads 
one  of  the  sermons  of  the  sainted  Rambach  on  the  Catechism, 
and  catechises  the  children  according  to  the  Glaubens-Lied 
[the  main  doctrines  of  the  Catechism  given  in  verses  by  Zie- 
genhagen,  in  those  times  frequently  used,  also  added  to  the 
edition  of  Luther's  Small  Catechism,  by  Christ.  Sauer  of  Ger- 
mantown,  1752].  The  people  love  him,  and  are  edified  by  his 
manner  of  delivery  and  by  his  conversation." 

Taking  a  retrospect  of  his  pastoral  labors  during  the 
year  1747,  Miihlenberg  says:  "During  this  year  I  was  com- 
pelled to  omit  work  on  four  Sundays  on  account  of  sickness. 
As  to  the  rest,  I  preached,  whenever  not  travelling,  every 


2O2  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Sunday  morning  in  the  main  churches  [Providence  and  New 
Hanover],  catechised  the  adults  and  the  young,  preached  as 
circumstances  required,  in  both  of  them,  in  the  afternoon,  in 
English.*  During  the  week-days  I  served,  preaching  the 
word  of  God,  the  outlying  congregations  at  Schippach,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  Schuylkill,  in  the  Oley  Mountains,  and 
other  places.  In  each  congregation  I  administered  the  Lord's 
Supper  twice  during  the  year,  baptized  one  hundred  and  nine- 
teen children,  and  confirmed  thirty-five  young  persons.  May 
the  merciful  and  faithful  Father  in  Christ  not  allow  his  word 
to  return  to  him  void,  but  grant  that  among  old  and  young  it 
may  in  this  lamentable  wilderness  be  blessed  and  bring  forth 
lasting  fruit !  Looking  upon  my  parish  and  the  outposts,  there 
is  a  circle  of  more  than  thirty  miles  wherein  the  members  of 
the  Church  are  dispersed.  My  saddest  concern  is  that  to  the 
special  care  of  each  soul  there  is  too  little  time  and  oppor- 
tunity given.  During  the  winter  months  one  must  be  glad 
if  the  general  duties  in  the  churches  and  at  the  outposts  can 
be  attended  to;  Frequently  the  roads,  the  rivers,  the  storms, 
the  cold,  the  snow,  the  weather,  are  such  that  one  would  not 
like  to  drive  his  dog  out  of  the  house  ;  yet  the  pastor  must  go 
his  round.  God  in  his  mercy  often  saved  me  in  most  immi- 
nent danger  and  preserved  my  poor  bones  when  horse  and 
rider  fell.  During  the  summer  the  families  are  so  overbur- 
dened with  work  that  scarcely  any  one  can  be  found  in  the 
house  but  little  children  locked  up  there ;  the  others  are 

*  There  was  in  the  districts  of  New  Providence  and  New  Hanover  a  considerable 
sprinkling  of  English-speaking  people  among  the  German  settlers.  They  were 
originally  not  Lutherans,  but  gladly  accepted  Mtihlenberg  as  a  preacher  of  the  gos- 
pel in  their  language.  F.  G.  Hobson,  Esq.,  of  Norristown,  says  in  his  articles  on 
the  history  of  New  Providence,  which  appeared  in  the  Providence  Independent : 
"  The  origin  of  this  name  *  Providence '  is  not  certainly  known,  but  tradition  says 
it  was  settled  by  some  of  the  followers  of  Roger  Williams  of  Rhode  Island.  Nearly  a 
century  before  this  Roger  Williams  had  named  his  settlement  *  Providence,'  now  the 
capital  of  Rhode  Island.  Hence  his  followers  coming  here  called  this  region  « New 
Providence.'  But  we  soon  find  it  losing  the  '  New '  and  retaining  its  name  '  Prov- 
idence." We  add  that  in  New  Hanover  a  log  church  was  erected  in  1721,  a  sec- 
ond one  in  1741-47.  A  stone  church,  which  is  still  in  use,  having  been  renovated 
in  1868,  was  erected  there  in  1767-68. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  203 

forced  to  work  to  find  their  bread.  I  have  hardly  any  other 
time  or  opportunity  for  special  pastoral  care  except  on  Sun- 
days, when  during  service  I  catechise  the  adults  [a  practice 
very  general  in  those  times],  and  after  service  the  young ;  also 
when,  during  the  week,  before  communion  service,  individ- 
uals present  themselves,  or  in  cases  of  sickness,  death,  bap- 
tism, and  the  like.  Saturday  and  Sunday  I  am  obliged  to 
labor  and  to  travel  without  intermission.  During  the  week  I 
ought  to  be  at  home  a  few  days  in  succession ;  but  one  day 
there  is  a  child  in  peril  of  death,  which  ought  to  be  baptized : 
thus  a  day  is  spent  with  travelling ;  the  next  day  a  sick  per- 
son wants  a  visit :  this  consumes  another  day  ;  the  third  there 
is  perhaps  a  funeral,  which  again  requires  no  less  time.  Thus 
things  go.  Where  is  time  to  be  found  for  study?  How  can 
a  man  who  rarely  spends  a  day  at  home  take  care  of  his  house, 
his  wife,  his  uneducated  children,  his  servants  ?  Willingly 
do  I  go  at  any  day  or  any  time  left  free  to  me  and  visit  souls 
in  whom  the  Spirit  has  begun  his  work.  Where  is  time  given 
to  keep  the  necessary  correspondence  with  the  venerable 
Fathers  and  the  friends  in  Europe,  and  with  the  beloved 
brethren  in  this  vast  country?" 

Yet  Miihlenberg  continued  to  carry  on  an  extensive  corre- 
spondence, not  only  with  his  brethren  in  the  office  and  many 
other  individuals  in  this  country,  but  with  the  Fathers  in 
Halle  and  with  other  individuals  who  took  an  interest  in 
the  mission-work  in  America;  and,  at  the  same  time,  he  never 
ceased  to  continue  his  diaries,  which,  amounting  to  many  vol- 
umes in  folio,  serve  us  this  day  as  the  main  source  of  all  the 
historical  information  here  communicated,  without  which  our 
knowledge  of  his  life  would  be  extremely  limited. 

During  October,  1747,  he  had  once  more  to  pay  a  visit  to 
Tulpehoken,  as  serious  sickness  had  broken  out  in  the  family 
of  his  father-in-law.  During  the  winter  1747—48  pleurisy 
prevailed  to  a  large  extent  in  the  district  of  Miihlenberg's 
congregations.  His  own  family  experienced  (1748,  Jan.  29th) 
another  increase  by  the  birth  of  a  daughter,  to  whom  the 
name  Eve  Elizabeth  was  given  in  holy  baptism. 


204  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 


CHAPTER    XIII. 
1748. 

J.  N.  Kurtz  again  sent  to  the  Raritan  congregations. — Hanclschuh  begins  his  labors 
at  Lancaster. — Muhlenberg  holds  services  in  English  at  Molatton. — Mission- 
ary tour  to  the  Blue  Mountains. — Visit  to  the  Raritan  congregations. — Con- 
sultation with  Brunnholtz  and  Hartwig. — Tulpehoken  and  Northkill  petition 
for  a  regular  pastor  and  reception  into  the  united  churches  of  Pennsylvania. — 
Organization  and  first  meeting  of  synod. — Examination  and  "  Reverse  "  of 
J.  N.  Kurtz.— His  call  to  Tulpehoken.— Dedication  of  St.  Michael's  Church. 
— Ordination  of  Kurtz. — Retrospect. 

IN  March,  1748,  J.  N.  Kurtz,  who  had  some  misunder- 
standing with  some  of  the  officers  of  the  Lancaster  congre- 
gation, was  again  sent  to  the  Raritan  churches,  which  he  had 
visited  the  first  time  in  1745.  In  consequence  of  the  open- 
ing which  that  miserable  character  Carl  Rudolph  had  found 
in  these  congregations,  where  he  introduced  himself  with  a 
preacher's  gown  which  he  had  stolen  from  Valent.  Kraft,  dis- 
sensions broke  out,  and  letters  and  messengers  came  to  Muhl- 
enberg begging  him  not  to  forsake  them  in  their  distress. 
Kurtz  returned  from  thence  April  i8th.  His  official  relations 
with  Lancaster  came  to  an  end  when  Handschuh  began  his 
labors  there  in  May.  Muhlenberg,  who  in  March  had  en- 
tered into  a  semi-official  relation  with  the  people  at  Molatton, 
baptized  there,  in  May,  two  adult  daughters  of  a  Quaker,  and 
in  June  a  Mrs.  Hopkins  and  her  child.  In  May  he  also  paid 
a  visit  to  the  dispersed  Lutherans  in  the  region  of  the  Blue 
Mountains ;  during  July  he  held  confirmation  and  the  Lord's 
Supper  at  Upper  Milford  and  Saccum,  where  Loeser  had  dili- 
gently given  instruction  to  some  catechumens.  To  the  Rari- 
tan congregations  a  promise  had  been  given,  in  agreement 
with  their  request,  that  one  of  the  pastors  would  again  visit 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2O$ 

them.  To  fulfil  this  promise,  Mlihlenberg  left  Providence 
again  July  2Oth  in  company  with  Loeser;  met  at  the  Dela- 
ware Hartwig,  who  intended  another  visit  to  Pennsylvania, 
and  two  officers  of  the  Raritan  congregations,  with  whom, 
July  26th,  he  arrived  at  the  residence  of  another  officer, 
where  he  lodged.  This  man,  who  was  considered  the  most 
prominent  among  them,  during  the  long  controversy  with 
Wolf  had  imbibed  prejudices  against  Lutheranism  as  repre- 
sented by  him,  Berkenmeier,  and  Knoll,  had  given  an  open  ear 
to  Moravian  emissaries,  who  frequently  honored  his  house 
with  their  presence,  and  had  himself  several  times  visited 
Bethlehem.  He  had  been  treated  in  a  somewhat  severe  and 
unwise  manner  by  Kurtz,  and  had  to  some  extent  given  ear 
to  Carl  Rudolph,  who  had  stirred  him  up  against  Pietism. 
Muhlenberg  happily  succeeded  in  removing  these  erroneous 
impressions.  He  visited,  July  28th  and  the  following  days, 
the  various  congregations,  then  called,  after  their  localities, 
Lesly's  Land,  Mountain  Church,  Fosseberg,  Racheway  (Rock- 
away).  In  each  of  them  he  visited  the  sick,  gave  counsel, 
aided  in  special  cases  as  a  peacemaker,  preached,  held  pre- 
paratory and  sacramental  services,  and  instructed  the  church- 
officers.  On  the  last  day,  August  /th,  he  held  a  conference 
with  the  members  of  all  the  congregations,  and,  as  we  have 
formerly  stated,  convinced  them  that  they  ought  to  build  a 
church  in  a  central  locality  capacious  enough  for  them  all — 
a  proposition  which  soon  afterward  was  successfully  carried 
out.  What  they  also  most  pressingly  needed  was  a  pastor 
residing  among  them.  Miihlenberg  promised  them  that  J. 
H.  Schaum — who  during  that  summer  had  met  with  difficul- 
ties at  York — would  be  permitted  for  one  year  to  live  among 
them.  Schaum,  having  shortly  after  his  arrival  in  America 
served  for  a  time  as  catechist  at  Cohansey,  N.  J.,  had  during 
the  spring  .of  1741  labored  in  the  same  capacity  among  the 
Raritan  congregations,  and  was  consequently  known  to  them. 
Good  understanding  being  restored  at  York,  Miihlenberg's 
promise  could  not  be  fulfilled. 

When,  on  August  pth,  Miihlenberg,  with  Loeser,  returned 


2O6  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

to  Providence,  he  found  Brunnholtz  and  Hartwig  there  wait- 
ing for  him.  With  these  brethren  he  had  to  consult  on  very 
important  subjects :  one  of  them  was  the  dedication  of  St. 
Michael's  Church  in  Philadelphia.  That  a  number  of  congre- 
gations, in  consequence  of  the  labors  of  Muhlenberg  and  his 
colleagues  subsequently  among  them,  had  undertaken  the 
erection  of  churches  is  a  telling  proof  of  a  renewed  and 
strengthened  vitality.  Thus  it  was  at  Providence,  where  in 
January,  1743,  the  congregation  resolved  to  build  a  church  ; 
May  2d  of  the  same  year  laid  the  corner-stone ;  in  September, 
though  the  building  was  unfinished,  began  to  use  it ;  and  Oct. 
6,  1745,  dedicated  it.  On  this  occasion  Muhlenberg,  Brunn- 
holtz, Tob.  Wagner,  and  also  Nyberg,  were  present.  This  ven- 
erable church — called  Augustus  Church — is  still  preserved, 
though  superseded  by  a  more  commodious  building  erected 
1852  and  1853.  At  Tulpehoken  the  corner-stone  of  Christ 
Church  was  laid  on  Ascension  Day,  May  12,  1743  ;  on  Christ- 
mas of  the  same  year  the  building  was  dedicated.  At  Ger- 
mantown  the  church  was  considerably  enlarged,  the  begin- 
ning of  the  work  dating  April  15,  1746.  At  New  Hanover 
a  new  school-house  was  erected.  St.  Michael's  Church  at 
Philadelphia  had  advanced  so  far  that  the  building  could 
be  dedicated.  It  was  resolved  that  this  should  take  place 
Aug.  14,  1748. 

Another  important  subject  was  the  proposition  to  ordain 
on  that  occasion  the  catechist  J.  N.  Kurtz.  There  were  many 
and  urgent  reasons  in  favor  of  this  proposition :  the  character 
and  well-tried  usefulness  of  the  candidate,  the  necessities  of 
the  congregations  at  Tulpehoken  and  Northkill,  where  he  was 
stationed,  the  desirable  increase  of  his  rights  and  powers  as  a 
regular  pastor,  the  impossibility  on  the  part  of  the  already- 
ordained  pastors  to  supply  the  wants  of  that  extensive  and 
distant  parochial  charge.  Of  course  an  act  of  ordination  was 
a  step  which  indicated  the  beginning  of  the  coming  independ- 
ence of  the  German  Lutheran  Church  in  Pennsylvania  as  to 
its  relation  to  the  Fathers  in  Europe,  without  whose  previous 
consent  the  ordination  would  not  have  been  undertaken.  But 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2O/ 

it  stands  to  reason  that  without  a  certain  independence  of 
action,  which  did  not  at  all  mean  a  separation  from  the  patrons 
and  advisers  beyond  the  sea,  the  progress  of  the  Church  in 
America  would  at  every  step  have  been  impeded.  Much  cau- 
tion was  needed  in  arranging  this  matter  so  that  as  a  precedent 
it  could  hereafter  serve  as  a  rule  for  all  emergencies.  In  this 
whole  arrangement  we  trace  the  ripe  experience  and  keen 
circumspection  of  Miihlenberg.  The  congregations  at  Tul- 
pehoken  and  Northkill  sent  a  petition,  signed  by  their  official 
representatives,  to  the  pastors  of  the  united  Evangelical  Lu- 
theran congregations,  Miihlenberg,  Brunnholtz,  and  Hand- 
schuh,  praying  for  a  regular  pastor.  They  refer  to  the  con- 
nection for  years  existing  between  them  and  the  pastors ;  to 
the  regular  call  and  the  rights  and  duties  of  these  united 
pastors  into  whose  hands  they  entrust  their  spiritual  welfare ; 
to  their  elevated  character  as  servants  of  God,  their  firmness 
in  holding  fast  to  the  Unaltered  Augsburg  Confession  against 
false  brethren,  errorists,  epicureans,  and  others  ;  to  the  success 
of  their  pastoral  activity,  ability,  experience,  felicitous  union, 
and  faithfulness.  These  two  congregations  desire  to  be  incor- 
porated into  the  already  united  churches  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
to  receive  from  the  pastors  of  the  same  a  regular  minister,  for 
which  purpose  they  grant  to  them  full  authority.  They  prom- 
ise to  recognize  the  united  pastors  as  a  lawful,  regular  presby- 
tery or  ministry ;  to  show  respect  to  the  chief  pastors ;  to 
undertake  in  church  affairs  nothing  without  their  advice  and 
consent,  consequently  never  to  enter  upon  any  engagement 
with  any  strange  preacher ;  to  carry  out  resolutions  passed  for 
the  interest  of  the  Church  by  the  united  pastors ;  to  respect, 
accept,  honor,  and  hear  the  legitimate,  divinely-called  pastor 
whom  the  united  pastors  may  send  to  them ;  to  support  him ; 
also,  in  case  the  united  pastors  should  for  weighty  reasons  call 
him  away,  to  dismiss  him,  and  to  accept  in  the  same  manner 
his  successor ;  to  report  to  them  any  misunderstandings  which 
might  arise  in  the  congregations  ;  finally,  to  provide  by  spe- 
cial subscriptions  for  the  support  of  the  pastor.  To  this 
document  the  officers  gave  their  signature  Aug.  13,  1748,  on 


208  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

a  solemn  occasion  which  we  shall  now  have  to  consider,  and 
which  was  the  third  and  most  important  subject  of  that  con- 
sultation. 

This  subject  was  the  organization  of  the  pastors  and  the 
congregations  under  their  care  into  a  synod,  and  the  holding 
of  the  first  synodical  meeting  at  Philadelphia,  appointed  for 
Aug.  14  and  15,  1748. 

The  united  pastors  had  up  to  that  time  provided  for  the 
interests  of  the  congregations  which  appealed  to  them  for 
assistance  by  consulting  with  one  another  and  with  the 
officers  of  those  congregations  or  with  the  congregations 
as  such.  But  those  congregations  had  common  interests 
and  necessities,  for  which  only  a  synod — a  body  composed 
of  the  pastors  and  of  properly-appointed  lay  delegates  of  the 
congregations — could  provide.  The  individual  congregations 
were  made  to  feel  that  they  were  organic  parts  of  the  Church 
body,  and  had  through  their  lay  representatives  a  voice  con- 
cerning the  welfare  of  the  Church  as  a  whole  and  of  its  con- 
stituent parts.  It  could  properly  be  expected  that  the  union 
of  the  congregations  and  pastors  for  the  purpose  of  maintain- 
ing order  and  discipline  and  for  providing  for  common  neces- 
sities would  contribute  to  the  strength  of  the  whole  and  of 
all  its  parts,  and  preserve  the  Church  against  dangerous  dis- 
integrating influences  from  without  and  disturbing  forces  from 
within.  Of  all  the  possible  forms  of  church  government,  the 
synodical  form,  which  was  then  adopted,  though  in  those  days 
applied  with  certain  limitations,  was  the  one  best  adapted  to 
the  then  existing  conditions  of  the  Church,  and  was,  indeed, 
the  only  feasible  one.  That  the  voice  of  the  pastors  in  those 
times  in  synodical  meetings  as  well  as  in  congregational 
affairs  was  decisive  on  all  questions  can  easily  be  understood. 
The  synodical  representative  government  of  the  Church  corre- 
sponds best  to  the  free  spirit  and  to  the  forms  of  the  civil  admin- 
istration of  this  country  and  to  Protestant  principles. 

Miihlenberg  and  his  clerical  brethren  arrived  Aug.  1 2th  at 
Philadelphia.  It  appears  that  all  the  necessary  arrangements 
were  made  in  good  time.  Schauin  of  York  seems  to  have 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  209 

received  the  invitation  to  the  meeting  too  late  to  come.  On 
Aug.  1 3th  the  pastors  Brunnholtz,  Handschuh,  and  Hartwig 
examined  the  catechist  J.  N.  Kurtz.  He  was  asked  to  give  a 
sketch  of  the  course  of  his  life  and  his  education,  especially 
the  circumstances  of  his  spiritual  awakening,  the  reasons  for 
devoting  himself  to  the  clerical  office;  also  of  what  theological 
works  his  library  consisted.  He  had  to  answer  the  questions 
what  theology  is,  what  sin  is,  especially  original  sin  and  the 
sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost.  He  had  to  give  a  definition  of 
justification,  with  proof  passages  of  the  Scriptures,  also  of 
saving  faith ;:  to  say  whether  and  how  far  good  works  were 
necessary  to  salvation;  what  sanctification  was,  and  how  it 
could  be  furthered  most  advantageously ;  in  what  sense 
death  was  the  reward  of  sin.  He  had  to  state  whether  the 
Evangelical  Lutheran  doctrine  was  the  only  saving  one,  and 
how  it  was  established  in  the  word  of  God;  also  to  give  an 
exegetical  analysis  of  Luke  xvi.  9,  and  to  base  upon  it  a 
theme  and  skeleton  of  a  sermon ;  to  describe  the  true  charac- 
ter and  duties  of  an  evangelical  pastor ;  to  explain  how  such 
an  one  should  deal  with  those  who,  when  dying,  confess  them- 
selves sinners  without  confessing  any  special  sin.  He  also 
had  to  state  whether,  and  if  so  how  far,  one  evangelical  min- 
ister might  stand  in  subordination  to  another  one.  All  these 
questions  Kurtz,  the  candidate,  was  expected  to  answer  on 
that  1 3th  of  August  before  three  o'clock  p.  M.  No  wonder 
that  Dr.  Francke  at  Halle  thought  too  much  was  expected 
of  the  candidate.  Having  received  a  report  of  all  the  trans- 
actions of  those  memorable  days,  he  writes,  after  expressing 
his  satisfaction  with  the  ordination,  concerning  the  manner 
and  result  of  the  examination  in  a  letter  dated  March  26, 
1749:  "In  the  answers  of  Mr.  Kurtz  some  things  were  not 
satisfactory,  though  some  of  the  questions  are  not  definite 
enough  or  too  difficult  for  him,  with  his  acquisitions,  to  answer 
satisfactorily  in  so  short  a  time.  Taken  all  in  all,  they  were 
answered  better  than  they  would  have  been  by  one  out 
of  ten  preachers  before  our  German  consistories ;  this,  how- 
ever, please  do  not  tell  Mr.  Kurtz."  Francke  had  doubts 

14 


2IO  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

concerning  the  permission  given  to  Kurtz  and  others  while 
catechists  to  administer  in  very  exceptional  cases  the  Lord's 
Supper  to  the  sick. 

On  the  same  day  Kurtz  was  obliged  also  to  give  his  signa- 
ture in  the  presence  of  two  witnesses  to  a  document  named 
"a  Reverse,"  wherein,  as  called  by  the  united  ministers  to 
take  charge  of  the  Tulpehoken  parish,  and  in  agreement  with 
the  directions  given  by  his  superiors  in  Europe,  under  penalty 
of  losing  all  title  to  his  parochial  charge,  he  most  solemnly 
promises  before  God  to  retain  and  to  show  proper  respect 
to  the  reverend  pastors  of  the  united  congregations,  as  he  had 
obligated  himself  to  do  at  Halle,  May  21,  1744;  to  consider 
his  congregations  as  a  part  of  the  united  congregations ;  to 
teach  publicly  and  privately  in  harmony  with  the  word  of 
God  and  the  confessional  books  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church,  and  to  this  end  diligently  to  study  them ;  to  intro- 
duce no  other  ceremonies  in  public  services  and  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  sacraments  but  those  prescribed  by  the  col- 
legium pastorum,  and  to  use  no  formulary  but  the  one  insti- 
tuted by  them ;  neither  himself  nor  with  the  church  council 
to  adopt  anything  of  importance  without  having  previously 
consulted  with  this  body,  and  after  having  received  their  opin- 
ion acquiesce  in  it ;  at  the  demand  of  the  collegium,  orally  or  in 
writing,  to  give  account  of  his  pastoral  activity ;  keep  a  diary 
and  enter  therein  all  his  pastoral  acts  and  all  remarkable 
events;  and  leave  his  charge  when  it  should  be  demanded. 

We  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  Kurtz  willingly  and 
with  a  sincere  heart  signed  his  name  to  this  document  and  its 
binding  stipulations.  When  the  delegates  of  the  Tulpehoken 
and  Northkill  congregations  were  requested  also  to  sign  their 
names  to  the  document  above  alluded  to  concerning  their 
relation  and  obligations  to  their  pastor  and  to  the  collegium, 
they  felt  somewhat  distrustful  in  consequence  of  insinuations 
made  by  Tob.  Wagner,  whom  they  had  met  on  their  journey 
to  Philadelphia,  and  who  suggested  that  there  was  danger 
in  signing  such  a  document.  After  some  consultations  and 
deliberations  they,  however,  gave  their  signatures.  Thereby 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  211 

the  agreement  between  them  and  Kurtz  was  virtually  sealed. 
They  had  no  reason  to  regret  the  step  they  had  taken  in 
behalf  of  their  congregations.  Kurtz  remained  their  pastor, 
faithfully  and  successfully  laboring  among  them,  until  the 
year  1769. 

Aug.  1 4th,  the  tenth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  was  devoted  to 
the  dedication  of  St.  Michael's  Church  and  to  the  ordination 
of  Kurtz  in  connection  with  solemn  public  services.  The 
clergy  and  the  delegates  went  from  Brunnholtz's  lodgings  in 
procession  to  the  church,  erected  directly  south  of  Fifth  and 
Cherry  streets^  at  that  time  the  north-western  boundary  of  the 
city.  The  procession  was  headed  by  the  Swedish  "  probst " 
(prsepositus,  provost,  superintendent),  John  Sandin,  and  by 
Hartwig,  who  were  followed  by  Muhlenberg  and  Brunnholtz, 
the  officers  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Germantown  congrega- 
tions, and  the  delegates  of  Providence,  New  Hanover,  Upper 
Milford,  and  Saccum ;  then  came  Handschuh  and  the  delegates 
of  Lancaster  and  Earltown ;  finally,  Kurtz  and  the  delegates 
of  Tulpehoken  and  Northkill.  The  services  were  opened 
with  the  hymn,  "  Come,  Holy  Spirit,  God  and  Lord,"  etc., 
antiphonically  sung,  the  pastors,  with  the  delegates  standing 
behind  them,  forming  a  half-circle  in  front  of  the  altar.  A 
congratulatory  address,  written  in  English  by  Rev.  Peter  Tran- 
berg,  the  oldest  of  all  the  Swedish  ministers  on  the  Delaware, 
was  then  read,  and  was  followed  by  an  address,  most  probably 
by  Muhlenberg/stating  that  the  corner-stone  of  this  church 
had  been  laid,  that  the  building  was  erected,  under  most  try- 
ing circumstances,  yet,  through  God's  mercy  and  by  the  char- 
ity of  many  blessed  souls,  it  had  been  built  to  the  end  that 
the  doctrines  of  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  might  be 
preached  in  it  according  to  the  prophets  and  apostles  and  in 
agreement  with  the  Unaltered  Augsburg  Confession  and  all 
the  other  Symbolical  Books.  After  this  the  whole  building 
and  its  parts,  the  pulpit,  baptismal  font,  altar,  were  formally 
dedicated  to  the  preaching  of  the  saving  word  and  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  holy  sacraments  according  to  the  Symbol- 
ical Books  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  The  representatives  of 


212  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

the  Philadelphia  congregation  solemnly  promised  for  this 
purpose  to  preserve  the  church  for  the  use  of  their  children 
and  children's  children.  Finally,  all  present  were  reminded 
that  this  building  was  only  an  external  structure  built  with 
•the  purpose  that  the  hearts  of  all  who  in  it  would  hear  the 
word  of  God  might  be  transformed  into  sanctified  temples 
of  the  living  God.  •  Now,  after  singing  a  few  verses  of  the 
hymn  "  Sey  Lob  und  Ehr  dem  hoechsten  Gut,"  etc.,  all  the 
ministers  and  delegates  kneeling  around  the  altar,  each  min- 
ister except  Miihlenberg  offered  a  short  prayer — Sandin  and 
Naesman  (who  also  was  present)  in  Swedish,  the  others  in 
German.  After  singing  another  hymn  and  the  baptizing  of 
a  child,  Handschuh  ascended  the  pulpit  to  deliver  the  dedi- 
cation sermon.  In  conclusion,  the  Lord's  Supper  was  admin- 
istered to  all  the  pastors  and  some  members  of  the  congre- 
gation. 

In  the  afternoon  they  again  went  in  procession  to  the  church. 
Hartwig  having  preached  on  Ezek.  xxxiii.  8,  all  the  pastors 
stood  before  the  altar,  the  delegates  again  forming  a  half-cir- 
cle. Three  Reformed  pastors  were  present  as  spectators.  One 
of  the  Lutheran  ministers — most  probably  Miihlenberg,  who 
in  his  report  omits  his  name —  read  the  ordination  formulary, 
and  he,  in  conjunction  with  his  fellow-pastors,  ordained  the 
candidate  for  holy  orders,  J.  N.  Kurtz,  by  the  laying  on  of 
their  hands.  This  was  the  first  synodical  ordination,  since  it 
was  administered  at  the  first  synodical  meeting  of  the  Lu- 
theran Church  in  America. 

'  Monday,  Aug.  I5th,  the  pastors  and  delegates  met  in  the 
church  to  transact  synodical  business.  After  singing  and 
prayer,  Miihlenberg,  who  seems  to  have  been  recognized  as 
the  presiding  officer  without  any  formal  election,  addressed 
the  assembly  concerning  the  union  long  desired,  now  accom- 
plished. He  referred  to  an  attempt  to  form  a  synod  in  the 
Swedish  Church  which  had  failed.  What  they  needed,  he 
said,  was  "  unity :  a  twisted  cord  of  many  threads  will  not 
easily  break.  We  need  order;  we  must  take  care  of  our 
youths ;  our  church-officers  have  great  responsibilities.  We 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  213 

are  assembled  to  provide  for  the  things  entrusted  to  us  ; 
Providence  willing,  we  shall  in  this  way  assemble  from  year 
to  year.  For  the  present  we  are  making  a  trial.  We  pas- 
tors here  present  did  not  come  of  our  own  will,  but  we  are 
called  here,  and  we  are  accountable  to  God  and  our  con- 
sciences." 

Brunnholtz,  who  on  that  occasion  served  as  secretary,  states 
that  now  every  congregation  was  requested,  through  its  dele- 
gate, to  state  the  relation  in  which  it  stood  as  to  its  pastor.  First 
spoke  the  representatives  of  Philadelphia,  and  expressed  their 
complete  satisfaction  with  their  pastor,  saying  that  he  was 
laboring  beyond  his  strength.  In  the  same  manner  all  the 
congregations  expressed  satisfaction  with  their  respective  pas- 
tors. The  second  topic  was  the  condition  of  the  parochial 
schools ;  each  pastor  laid  before  synod  the  actual  state,  the 
wants  and  prospects,  of  his  school.  On  the  third  topic,  the 
liturgy,  all  the  delegates  (elders)  expressed  their  satisfaction 
with  the  form  already  in  use,  and  with  the  plan  to  introduce 
the  same  form  in  all  the  congregations,  though  they  thought 
that  during  cold  winter  days  the  service  would  be  somewhat 
too  long.  Herewith  the  liturgy  already  in  use  was  ratified  by 
synod.  It  was  not  printed;  the  pastors  copied  it  each  for 
himself.  It  seems  that  one  of  the  delegates  raised  the  ques- 
tion why  men  like  Stoever,  Wagner,  Streiter,  Andreae  were 
not  invited,  to  which  question  Miihlenberg  easily  answered 
that  the  antagonistic  spirit  of  these  men,  as  well  as  their  cha- 
racter, would  frustrate  every  attempt  to  harmoniously  co-ope- 
rate with  them.  Tob.  Wagner  had  spread  the  report  that 
Muhlenberg  had  driven  him  from  Tulpehoken.  The  delegate 
of  this  congregation  plainly  testified  that  Muhlenberg  had 
never  forced  himself  upon  them — that  the  congregation  had 
entreated  him  to  take  charge  of  them,  that  Wagner  had  resigned 
of  his  own  accord,  since  he  could  never  have  succeeded  there. 
After  some  exchange  of  opinions  on  the  question  how  mem- 
bers who  had  followed  the  Moravians,  but  had  returned  to 
Lutheran  congregations,  whose  articles  of  order  they  were 
not  willing  to  sign,  were  to  be  treated,  and  after  some  general 


214  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

admonition  made  by  one  of  the  pastors  concerning  the  neces- 
sity for  a  decidedly  Christian  character  on  the  part  of  officers 
of  the  church,  it  was  finally  resolved  to  meet  yearly,  and  alter- 
nately at  Philadelphia  and  Lancaster,  the  time  to  be  appointed 
by  the  pastors.  Every  congregation  was  enjoined  to  send,  at 
its  own  expense,  two  elders.  At  last  expressions  of  good-will 
were  mutually  exchanged.  Brunnholtz  thanked  Provost  San- 
din,  in  behalf  of  the  congregations,  for  the  honor  of  his  pres- 
ence. In  responding,  Sandin  wished  the  new  synod  all  divine 
blessings,  requested  to  be  considered  a  member,  and  said  that, 
having  arrived  here  only  a  short  time  before  (March,  1748), 
he  felt  that  the  Swedes  should  follow  the  example  given  by 
the  Germans  in  forming  a  synod ;  but,  to  the  great  distress 
of  the  Swedes,  he  died  in  the  month  of  August,  shortly  after 
the  adjournment  of  the  synod.  The  elders  of  Philadelphia 
thanked  the  convention  for  participating  in  the  dedication 
of  their  church-building,  at  the  same  time  inviting  all  pres- 
ent to  a  collation  prepared  for  them.  The  convention  was  for- 
mally closed  with  singing  a  verse  of  a  hymn,  and  pastors  and 
delegates  of  the  Pennsylvania  German  Lutheran  congrega- 
tions signed  the  minutes. 

The  dedication  of  St.  Michael's  Church — which  for  a  period 
of  more  than  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  was  regularly 
used  for  divine  services  by  the  same  congregation — the  ordi- 
nation of  a  young  and  useful  colaborer,  the  meeting  of  a 
respectable  body  of  clerical  and  lay  representatives  of  the 
united  German  Lutheran  churches  for  deliberating  and  acting 
on  highly-important  matters,  were  of  great  importance  in  the 
history  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in.  this  country — a  cause  for 
gratitude  and  encouragement,  a  pledge  for  the  future.  But  to 
no  one  could  they  be  of  more  significance  than  to  Miihlen- 
berg.  On  Nov.  25,  1742,  he  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  a  soli- 
tary traveller,  a  clergyman  with  nothing  to  sustain  him  but  a 
few  lines  coming  across  the  ocean  and  endorsing  him  before 
congregations  who  had  lost  almost  all  faith  in  documents  and 
in  ministers  of  the  gospel.  Six  years  had  not  yet  passed,  but 
he  saw  himself  at  the  head  of  a  synodical  meeting  in  the  midst 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  21$ 

of  clerical  brethren  and  worthy  representatives  of  a  respect- 
able number  of  congregations.  He  recognized  that  his  labors 
had  not  been  in  vain,  and  with  much  encouragement  he  could 
look  forward  to  the  future.  He  could  again  add  "  The  Lord 
doeth  all  things  well "  to  the  beautiful  words  of  one  of  his 
letters  sent  in  1743  to  Germany,  when,  taking  a  retrospective 
view  of  his  experience  during  the  preceding  year,  he  says : 
"  The  Lord  dealt  well  with  me  in  London  at  Ziegenhagen's ; 
well  when  I  as  a  stranger  went  on  board  of  ship ;  well  when 
I  was  among  strange  people  of  a  strange  tongue ;  well  when 
I  had  to  undergo  sickness  and  many  trials ;  well  when  our 
ship  was  obliged  to  sail  through  storms  and  without  a  con- 
voy among  enemies ;  well  when  I  was  permitted  in  the  Eng- 
lish language  to  announce  to  sinners,  to  my  brethren,  salva- 
tion through  the  Saviour  of  the  world  or  the  eternal  judg- 
ment ;  well  when  we  were  visited  by  oppressive  heat  and  pain- 
ful thirst ;  well  when  he,  our  Lord,  listened  to  our  prayers  and 
sent  us  favorable  winds ;  well  when  out  of  misery  and  danger 
we  were  finally  brought  to  Charleston ;  well  in  saving  me  on 
the  voyage  to  Georgia  from  imminent  peril  of  life ;  well  when 
among  the  Salzburg  brethren  in  the  faith  at  Ebenezer  he  al- 
lowed me  to  hear  and  to  enjoy  so  many  good  things;  well 
when  he  safely  led  me  back  to  Charleston,  and  there  in  a 
remarkable  way  assisted  arid  sustained  me  as  a  stranger; 
well  when  during  the  wintry  season,  in  a  most  frail  vessel,  in 
storms,  sickness,  and  misery,  I  was  obliged  to  travel  to  Penn- 
sylvania." 

This  is  truly  Christian  optimism — the  best  practical  phil- 
osophy. There  is  a  mysterious  vitality,  a  world-conquering 
strength,  in  such  a  humble  faith  in  this  certainty  that  God  is 
in  everything,  that  without  his  will  not  a  hair  falls  from  the 
head  nor  a  sparrow  to  the  ground,  and  that  he  is  love  in  all 
his  dealings  with  his  children.  Such  faith  Miihlenberg  cher- 
ished in  his  heart ;  such  faith  he  needed  in  the  days  and  years 
which  were  to  come. 


2l6  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

1748  et  seq. 

Political  aspects  of  Pennsylvania. — Internal  dissensions. — Disastrous  war  with  the 
French. — Barbarous  hostilities  of  the  Indians. — Final  victory  of  the  English. 
— Influence  of  those  turbulent  times  upon  social  life,  congregations,  and  pas- 
tors in  Pennsylvania. — Regina  the  released  captive. — Sickness  of  Brunnholtz. 
— John  Albr.  Weygand. — Mtthlenberg's  interest  in  him. — He  is  sent  to  the  Rar- 
itan  congregations. — J.  B.  van  Dieren. — J.  H.  Schaum  ordained  1749. — Wey- 
gand ordained  1750;  called  to  New  York  1753. — Marriage  of  J.  Fr.  Vigera. 
— Ludolph  H.  Schrenk. — Kindness  of  Brunnholtz  and  Muhlenberg  toward 
him. — He  labors  as  catechist  at  Upper  Milford,  Saccum,  and  neighboring 
places. — His  ordination. — He  succeeds  Weygand  in  the  Raritan  congregations. 
— Catechist  J.  A.  Friderici. — Schrenk  leaves  the  Raritan  congregations. — His 
erratic  course  and  final  disappearance. 

OUR  narrative  proceeds  now  to  a  period  of  considerable 
disquietude  in  the  political  condition  of  the  Northern 
colonial  provinces  of  America,  especially  Pennsylvania,  and  of 
disturbances  and  reactionary  tendencies  in  congregations  be- 
longing to  the  field  in  which  Muhlenberg  and  his  associates 
were  laboring. 

Pennsylvania  had  through  a  long  series  of  years  enjoyed 
peace.  During  the  war  preceding  the  Peace  of  Aix-la-Chapelle 
of  1748,  commerce  and  navigation  had  to  some  extent  suffered; 
in  Georgia  the  Spaniards  had  attempted  an  invasion,  but  not  in 
the  more  Northern  colonies.  In  Pennsylvania  the  relations 
between  the  colonists  and  the  Indians  had  never  been  seri- 
ously disturbed.  The  border  difficulties  with  Maryland — 
the  so-called  Cressap  War — did  not  interfere  with  the  prog- 
ress of  the  province.  Immigration  reached,  just  before  the 
middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  an  unprecedented  height. 
The  learned  Peter  Kalm,  professor  of  natural  science,  sent 
here  by  the  Swedish  government  to  investigate  the  resources 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  2 1  / 

of  this  country,  says  that  during  the  summer  of  1749  about 
twelve  thousand  Germans  arrived ;  during  the  fall  of  that 
year  twenty-five  vessels  brought  seven  thousand  and  forty- 
nine  German  emigrants  to  Philadelphia.  And  this  immigra- 
tion continued  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  Seven  Years' 
War  in  1756.  Agriculture  and  commerce  were  in  a  flourish- 
ing condition.  To  the  former  even  the  very  abundance  of 
the  cereal  crop  of  the  years  1751  and  1752  proved  an  injury, 
as  the  chronicler  of  the  convent  of  the  Seventh-day  Mennon- 
ites  at  Ephrata,  Pa.,  relates  in  these  words  :  "  The  years  175  I 
and  1752  have  been  so  fruitful  in  wheat  and  other  grain  that 
men,  in  wanton  carelessness,  sought  to  waste  the  supply ;  for 
they  used  the  precious  wheat — which  might  have  supported 
many  poor  and  needy  people — to  fatten  hogs,  which  after- 
ward they  lavishly  consumed.  Besides,  distilleries  were  erected 
everywhere,  and  thus  this  great  blessing,  used  for  the  man- 
ufacture of  strong  drink,  gave  rise  to  much  disorder." 

Clouds,  however,  began  to  arise  on  the  political  horizon 
some  years  before  the  middle  of  the  century,  and  ominously 
portended  the  approaching  storm. 

Influenced  by  the  French,  the  Shawanese  Indians  began 
from  1745  to  show  signs  of  hostility  to  the  English.  The 
French  threatened  the  English  provinces  from  the  North  and 
the  West.  They  sought  to  establish  themselves  in  Canada  and 
on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  down  to  Louisiana  by  erecting 
forts,  and  through  their  Jesuit  missionaries  and  other  agents 
exercised  a  continually  irritating  influence  upon  the  Indians, 
who  were  from  year  to  year  more  alarmed  by  the  progress 
of  the  palefaced  population  from  the  East,  and  often  thought 
themselves  wronged  by  the  manner  in  which  they  were  dis- 
possessed of  the  land  of  their  fathers.  The  Scotch-Irish 
especially — who,  without  regard  to  the  Indians,  to  the  laws 
of  Pennsylvania,  or  to  the  proclamations  of  the  governors, 
had  from  1740  settled  along  the  rivers  and  creeks  and  in  the 
valleys  west  of  the  Susquehanna — caused  by  their  encroach- 
ments much  dissatisfaction  among  the  Indians. 

It  was  to  the  highest  interest  of  the  provincial  government 


2l8  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

to  keep  on  good  terms  with  the  Indians.  They  were  from 
time  to  time  pacified  by  large  and  extensive  presents  of  things 
which  they  wanted  and  could  not  manufacture  themselves, 
but,  at  the  same  time,  military  roads  were  laid  out,  and  along 
the  borders  of  progressing  civilization  forts  were  here  and 
there  erected.  The  taxes  imposed  to  cover  these  outlays 
occasioned  much  dissension  between  the  constituent  parts 
of  the  provincial  government  The  governors  found  military 
preparations  absolutely  necessary.  The  Quakers  very  unrea- 
sonably opposed  their  peace  principles  to  all  war  measures, 
wherein  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania  they  were  joined  by  the 
Moravians,  Mennonites,  Bunkers,  Schwenkfelders,  and  others, 
most  of  whom  disliked  paying  taxes  no  less  than  going  to  war. 
The  Assembly,  seeing  that  taxes  must  be  raised,  wanted  the 
Proprietaries  to  pay  their  share.  The  governors,  representing 
the  prerogatives  of  the  Proprietaries,  imposed  the  taxes  only 
upon  the  people.  When  the  crisis  approached,  the  Quakers 
lost  the  long-continued  control  of  Pennsylvania  politics. 
But  the  dissensions  between  the  branches  of  the  govern- 
ment and  the  factions  of  the  people  had  prevented  united  de- 
cisive action  at  the  proper  time,  and  were  fraught  with  disas- 
trous consequences.  The  great  conflict  which  broke  out 
twenty  years  later  was  already  foreshadowed  by  the  spirit  of 
independence  which  the  colonial  people  clearly  showed  in 
their  relation  to  the  home  government  and  to  the  Proprietaries 
of  the  province  of  Pennsylvania. 

It  is  not  our  intention,  nor  is  it  necessary  for  our  subject, 
to  enter  upon  a  detailed  account  of  the  events  of  the  war 
against  the  French,  which  began  July  9,  1755,  with  the  dis- 
astrous defeat  of  the  English  in  the  battle  near  Fort  Du- 
quesne,  where  George  Washington,  by  his  courage  and  skill, 
saved  the  remnants  of  the  gallant  army  destroyed  by  the 
obstinate  folly  of  its  commander,  Major-general  E.  Braddock, 
and  which  ended  with  the  expulsion  of  the  French  from  the 
Northern  provinces  of  America  and  with  the  Peace  of  Paris, 
concluded  1763. 

It  cannot  surprise  us  that  by  the  war  continuing  through  a 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2 19 

number  of  years  the  social  condition  of  the  provinces  was 
seriously  affected.  Probably  none  of  them  felt  those  influ- 
ences in  a  higher  degree  than  Pennsylvania.  The  contentions 
between  the  branches  of  the  government  moved  the  sympa- 
thies or  antipathies  of  the  parties  among  the  people.  Troops 
had  to  be  raised,  and  hundreds  of  young  men  were  taken  from 
the  regular,  quiet  course  of  life.  The  consequences  of  war 
everywhere  include  an  increase  of  lawlessness  ;  Pennsylvania 
formed  in  this  respect  no  exception.  But  the  effects  of  the  war 
were  especially  lamentable  upon  the  Indians.  When  the  Eng- 
lish and  provincial  troops  were  obliged  to  retreat  after  the  un- 
fortunate battle  near  Fort  Duquesne,the  settlements  on  the  fron- 
tiers toward  the  west  were  left  unprotected.  The  settlers  were 
not  prepared  for  defence;  they  lost  all,  and  had  to  take  to  pre- 
cipitate flight  to  save  even  their  lives.  The  Indians,  now  fully 
convinced  of  the  superior  power  of  the  French,  moving  east- 
ward, committed  the  most  savage  atrocities  upon  the  unpro- 
tected inhabitants.  Whole  settlements  were  totally  destroyed, 
the  settlers  being  slaughtered  or  carried  into  cruel  captivity. 
Neither  age  nor  sex  was  spared.  In  November,  1755,  the 
Indians  had  "  entered,"  as  Governor  Morris  reported,  "  the 
passes  of  the  Blue  Mountains,  broke  into  the  counties  of  Lan- 
caster, Berks,  and  Northampton,  committing  murder,  devas- 
tations, and  other  kinds  of  horrid  mischief."  While  all  these 
atrocities,  accompanied  by  fearful  loss  of  life  and  property, 
were  going  on,  the  Assembly,  in  which  the  Quaker  element 
was  still  predominant,  remained  in  a  shocking  state  of  leth- 
argy arid  indifference,  until  the  voice  of  the  people  could  no 
longer  be  left  unheard  and  had  to  be  answered.  In  April, 
1756,  Governor  Morris  went  so  far  as  to  promise,  to  the  great 
chagrin  of  the  Assembly,  bounties  for  every  Indian  prisoner, 
male  or  female,  for  every  scalp  of  an  adult  male  Indian,  and 
for  every  English  subject  delivered  from  captivity.  At  an 
expense  of  eighty-five  thousand  pounds  the  province  of  Penn- 
sylvania erected  on  the  frontiers  of  the  districts  more  or  less 
settled  a  chain  of  forts  and  blockhouses  commanding  moun- 
tain-passes and  containing  garrisons.  Before  giving  his  office 


22O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

(August,  1756)  into  the  hands  of  his  successor,  William  Denny, 
Governor  Morris  had  planned  an  expedition,  to  be  conduct- 
ed by  Colonel  J.  Armstrong,  against  Kittanning,  on  the  Alle- 
ghany,  then  the  real  stronghold  of  the  Indians.  The  Indians 
were  taken  unawares  (Sept.  i)  and  completely  routed,  and 
their  stronghold  was  burned.  Pennsylvania  had  raised  twen- 
ty-five military  companies,  amounting  to  fourteen  hundred 
men,  but  the  mode  of  warfare  by  the  savages  often  baffled  the 
best  military  skill.  The  Indians  continued  through  the  fol- 
lowing year  to  harass  the  settlers  and  to  make  life  and  peace- 
ful occupations  insecure ;  one  of  their  scalping-parties  came 
even  within  thirty  miles  of  Philadelphia.  A  happy  change 
was  effected  by  the  statesmanship  of  William  Pitt,  earl  of 
Chatham.  Properly  calculating  the  commercial  worth  of 
the  American  provinces  to  England,  he  sent  regular  troops 
and  pledged  liberal  pay  to  soldiers  enlisting  in  the  colonies. 
Two  thousand  seven  hundred  men  were  equipped  in  Pennsyl- 
vania. Already,  in  November,  1758,  the  French  were  -driven 
west  of  the  Ohio;  and  when  in  1759  Ticonderoga,  Crown 
Point,  Niagara,  and  Quebec,  in  1760  Montreal,  Detroit,  and 
all  of  Canada,  were  in  the  hands  of  the  English,  France  had 
lost  all  hold  on  the  Northern  provinces  of  America.  The 
Indian  attempt  to  break  forth  from  the  West  with  united 
forces  against  the  colonies — "  Pontiac's  Conspiracy  and  War  " 
— was  frustrated  after  severe  struggles.  The  "  Paxton  Massa- 
cre," in  which  a  number  of  peaceable  Indians  were  killed  in 
December,  1763,  in  Lancaster  county,  and  which  for  a  time 
threatened  very  disastrous  consequences  even  to  Philadelphia, 
may  be  taken  as  a  proof  of  the  bitterness  of  feeling  prevailing 
against  the  Indians.  Their  days  were  numbered;  as  a  foe 
they  were  annihilated,  and  afterward  rapidly  disappeared. 
Thirty  or  forty  years  ago  one  could  meet  in  Pennsylvania 
with  aged  individuals  who  remembered  in  their  early  child- 
hood to  have  seen  Indians  at  the  farmhouse  or  at  the  country 
store,  not  as  terrible  warriors,  but  as  unwelcome  beggars  ask- 
ing alms. 

Numbers  of  Lutheran  congregations  and  pastors  had  to 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  221 

suffer  in  the  years  of  the  struggles  between  two  foreign 
nations  for  the  possession  of  this  country.,  The  barbarities 
of  the  natives — who  in  either  issue  were  to  be  dispossessed  of 
their  unimproved  inheritance — were  the  bloody  revenge  for 
their  loss.  Under  the  date  of  June  24,  1763,  Muhlenberg 
tells  us  that  his  brother-in-law,  whom  he  then  visited  on  the 
paternal  estate  at  Heidelberg,  a  few  miles  west  of  Reading, 
"  had  two  days  before  returned  from  the  Indian  frontier,  and 
had  driven  home  his  cattle,  kept  on  his  deceased  father's 
lands,  because  the  savages  intended  to  make  a  hostile  attack 
against  the  Americans,  and  had  already  cruelly  murdered 
many  of  them — as  was  reported,  no  less  than  fourteen  hun- 
dred settlers.  The  inhabitants,  German  and  English,  living 
nearest  the  frontiers  are  fleeing  without  proper  clothing  from 
their  habitations,  and  must  relinquish  the  harvest  just  ripen- 
ing and  promising  subsistence  for  the  whole  year.  All  North 
America  is  alarmed,  since  the  Indians  show  themselves  crafty 
and  inimical."  It  is  in  connection  with  these  Indian  troubles 
and  atrocities  that  Muhlenberg  tells  us  of  the  mother  who 
visited  him  at  Philadelphia  in  February,  1765,  and  asked  him 
for  a  Bible  and  a  hymn-book  for  her  daughter  Regina.  This 
daughter,  with  her  sister  Barbara,  during  the  absence  of  her 
mother  and  brother  and  after  the  murder  of  her  father,  had 
been  taken  captive  in  1755  by  the  Indians  when,  after  Brad- 
dock's  defeat,  they  devastated  the  interior  of  Pennsylvania. 
Suffering  most  cruel  treatment,  these  two  children  were  car- 
ried some  hundred  miles  westward.  Barbara  was  taken  to  a 
still  more  remote  locality,  and  of  her  every  trace  was  lost. 
Regina  was  for  eight  years  the  slave  of  an  old  and  very 
rough  Indian  woman.  She  lost  the  use  of  her  native  German 
language — retained,  however,  some  prayers,  the  Apostles' 
Creed,  and  verses  of  a  few  German  hymns,  all  of  which  she 
frequently  repeated,  to  the  great  comfort  of  her  soul  in  her 
distress.  Finally,  when  the  French  were  vanquished,  the 
Indians  brought  to  terms,  and  many  white  captives  released, 
in  the  fall  of  1765  she  was  taken,  with  a  small  child,  also  a  cap- 
tive— to  whom  she  had  indeed  been  a  foster-mother — to  Car- 


222  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

lisle,  Pa.  A  public  notice  having  been  given  in  all  the  news- 
papers throughout  Pennsylvania  that  those  whose  friends  had 
been  carried  into  captivity  years  before  should  appear  and  see 
whether  they  could  recognize  them,  Regina's  mother,  follow- 
ing the  instinct  of  motherly  love,  repaired  to  Carlisle,  but 
could  not  discover  her  daughter.  No  wonder !  within  eight 
years  the  little  Regina  had  grown  to  womanhood.  The  com- 
missaries asking  the  mother  whether  she  could  not  remember 
any  particular  thing  by  which  she  might  know  her  child,  she 
said  her  daughter  had  frequently  sung  the  hymns  "  Jesus  I 
shall  love  for  ever,"  etc.,  and  "Alone,  and  yet  not  quite  alone," 
etc.  Hardly  had  she  said  these  words  in  German  when  Regina 
came  forward,  began  to  repeat  the  Creed,  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
and  these  hymns.  •  Irresistibly  mother  and  daughter  embraced 
each  other,  and  the  tears  df  an  unspeakable  joy  broke  forth. 
Regina's  foster-child,  seeing  this,  also  began  to  repeat  the 
same  prayers  and  hymns ;  and  when  Regina  was  about  to 
return  with  her  mother,  the  child,  claimed  by  no  one,  clung 
to  her  friend  with  so  much  affection  that  they  could  not  but 
take  her  along.  Referring  to  the  fact  that  Regina's  mother 
had  come  from  Reutlingen  (now  belonging  to  the  kingdom 
of  Wiirtemberg),  Miihlenberg  says  at  the  conclusion  of  his 
charming  narrative,  "  Suppose  the  sainted  Luther  were  still 
this  side  of  eternity  and  could  hear  that  a  child  of  Reutlin- 
gen, the  free  imperial  city  which  in  1530  so  faithfully  and 
firmly  held  to  the  Augsburg  Confession,  had  through  God's 
pure  word  been  preserved  in  the  deep  wilderness  in  spiritual 
life,  how  heartily  would  he  offer  to  God  praises  and  thanks 
and  once  more  cheerfully  and  confidently  sing,  '  The  word 
they  still  shall  let  remain,  and  not  a  thank  have  for  it ' !" 

Soon  after  the  first  meeting  of  synod  Muhlenberg  was 
again  called  to  Philadelphia  on  account  of  a  critical  sickness 
of  Brunhholtz,  who  was  living  as  a  bachelor.  Brunnholtz's 
constitution  was  not  a  strong  one,  and  the  claims  of  his  two 
congregations  were  too  much  for  his  physical  ability.  Muhl- 
enberg found  him  in  a  burning  fever,  which  had  continued 
for  some  time  and  reduced  him  to  such  a  degree  that  Miihlen- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.    .  223 

berg  had  little  hope  of  his  life  and  felt  very  much  depressed. 
He  held  the  intellectual  capacities  of  Brunnholtz  in  consider- 
able esteem,  and  would  have  considered  his  death  a  great  loss 
to  the  young  but  growing  Church  in  this  country.  We  can 
perceive  the  frame  of  his  mind  when  he  says,  "  The  other 
beloved  brethren  are  faithfully  doing  their  work,  each  at  his 
particular  post,  according  to  the  talents  God  gave  to  each ; 
but  they  do  not  yet  understand  the  connection  and  interest 
of  the  whole,  and  expect  words  of  comfort  and  encourage- 
ment from  us  older  ones,  who  themselves  are  in  need  of 
them."  Again  :  "  It  is  true  the  station  which  Brunnholtz  now 

o 

occupies  is  too  laborious  for  him,  for  there  is  more  internal 
trouble  and  grief  than  may  be  described.  His  spirit,  faith, 
and  charity  are  sufficient,  but  the  weak  body  is  not  equal  to 
the  work.  The  character  of  the  climate  also  is  so  severe  that 
steel  and  iron  will  get  brittle.  I  had  such  a  robust,  farmer- 
like  nature  that  I  knew  of  no  sickness  nor  weakness,  but  the 
climate  and  the  never-ending  travelling  broke  me  down." 
Brunnholtz  escaped  on  that  occasion,  but  suffered  repeated 
attacks,  and  died,  after  twelve  years'  labor  in  Pennsylvania,  at 
his  post. 

We  can  easily  understand  that  it  was  for  both  his  and 
Miihlenberg's  interest,  in  view  of  the  growing  German  Lu- 
theran immigration  and  the  petitions  of  congregations,  to 
assist  them  in  getting  pastors,  and  that  they  felt  the  necessity 
to  fill  vacancies  with  men  of  proper  character  and  to  substitute 
such  for  irregular  pastors,  and  also  to  find  men  who  might  in 
the  course  of  time  be  made  useful  servants  of  the  Church. 
The  Fathers  in  Germany  found  it  exceedingly  difficult  to 
select  suitable  individuals  for  this  distant — and,  indeed,  un- 
usually arduous — field  of  labor.  To  find  suitable  men  from 
the  people  already  in  this  country  seemed,  for  obvious  rea- 
sons, particularly  desirable. 

During  the  sickness  of  Brunnholtz,  in  September,  1748,  a 
young  candidate  for  the  clerical  office,  John  Albert  Weygand, 
had  arrived  at  Philadelphia.  Some  uneasy  heads,  as  Muhl- 
enberg  judiciously  calls  them,  precipitately  proposed  him, 


224  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

though  they  knew  as  little  of  his  character  as  of  the  means 
for  his  support,  as  an  assistant  to  Brunnholtz.  The  young 
man  had  no  money  to  satisfy  the  captain  who  had  brought 
him  across  the  Atlantic,  but  his  conduct  during  the  voyage 
had  been  such  that  some  of  his  fellow-passengers,  moved  by 
compassion,  satisfied  the  claims  standing  against  him.  He 
paid  a  visit  to  Brunnholtz,  but  had  no  testimonials  to  show. 
While  he  remained  at  Philadelphia  he  refused  calls  from  par- 
ties in  the  country  who  at  various  localities  were  in  need  of  a 
pastor.  The  worthless  Andreae,  who  was  serving  parts  of  Lu- 
theran congregations  in  Old  Goshenhoppen  and  Indianfield, 
invited  him  in  vain ;  he  desired  before  all  to  see  Miihlenberg, 
and  came  to  Providence.  Being  examined  as  to  the  motives 
of  his  coming  to  America,  he  narrated  the  course  of  his  life. 
He  was  born  Aug.  26,  1722,  in  the  district  of  Hanau,  not  far 
from  Frankfort- on-the-Main ;  was  given  in  1736  by  his  parents 
to  the  care  of  a  pastor,  and  began  the  study  of  the  ancient 
languages ;  in  1742  he  frequented  for  a  few  months  the  higher 
school  at  Hanau,  and  then,  though  cautioned  against  the 
"  Pietists,"  the  University  at  Halle,  where  he  attended  theo- 
logical lectures,  and  subsequently  was  made  a  teacher  in  the 
well-known  charitable  institutions.  Here  his  spiritual  awak- 
ening took  place,  and  he  felt  himself  willing  to  go  east  or 
west  as  the  Lord  might  use  and  send  him  in  his  service.  He 
left  Halle  in  1744,  served  as  teacher  at  a  few  places,  made  the 
acquaintance  of  some  men  prominent  among  the  Pietists,  as 
"Abt  Steinmetz "  and  Pastor  Sommer,  with  whom  Miihlen- 
berg was  personally  acquainted,  and  was  finally  persuaded  at 
Frankfort-on-the-Main,  by  some  rogue  in  the  shape  of  a  ship- 
ping-agent, to  come  to  America,  where  plenty  of  work  was 
waiting  for  him.  Emigrants  always  flocked  to  ships  on  which 
a  member  of  the  clergy  embarked ;  agents  were  therefore  on  the 
alert  to  induce  clericals  to  try  their  fortune  in  America.  Had 
those  good-natured  individuals  at  Weygand's  arrival  at  Phil- 
adelphia not  satisfied  the  claims  against  him,  according  to  law 
the  captain  of  the  ship  could,  and  undoubtedly  would,  have 
sold  him  for  menial  service  for  a  number  of  years. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  22$ 

When  Weygand  in  words  of  highest  respect  spoke  of  the 
venerable  Fathers  and  of  the  blessed  institutions  at  Halle, 
Miihlenberg  says  his  own  heart  grew  warm  like  Joseph's 
when  in  Egypt  he  recognized  his  brothers.  But  he  cautiously 
scrutinized  the  mind  and  the  character  of  his  new  acquaint- 
ance. "  It  was  not  advisable,"  says  he,  "  to  reject  him,  since 
some  of  our  well-meaning  members  had  been  informed  that 
he  was  from  Halle,  bone  of  our  bone  and  flesh  of  our  flesh. 
Advice  from  there  we  could  not  receive  in  a  few  days.  I  chari- 
tably indulged  in  good  hope  concerning  him.  I  looked  upon 
him  as  Abraham  looked  upon  the  ram  caught  in  a  thicket. by 
his  horns  (Gen.  xxii.),  and  took  him  into  my  house,  to  which 
my  colleagues  consented."  As  may  be  expected,  he  also 
examined  him  as  to  his  theological  attainments  and  his  per- 
sonal piety,  allowed  him  to  offer  up  free  prayers  at  the  house- 
hold services,  and  was  pleased  to  find  that  he  used  good 
biblical  terms — that  in  his  conversation  he  often  introduced 
phrases  which  Miihlenberg  could  easily  trace  back  to  Francke, 
Steinmetz,  Sommer,  or  some  other  honored  man  of  his  for- 
mer acquaintance ;  all  of  which  was  proof  that  he  had  moved 
in  those  circles.  Miihlenberg,  having  appointed  him  to  in- 
struct the  catechumens  at  New  Hanover,  found  that  he  was 
diligent  and  persevering,  but,  like  all  beginners  in  such-  exer- 
cises, preached  more  than  he  catechised,  and  "  did  not  chew 
the  questions  small  enough  for  the  children's  comprehension." 
Miihlenberg  also  allowed  him  to  preach,  and  found  that  he 
had  a  fine  tenor  voice,  modest  gesture,  and  did  not  use  meta- 
physical school-terms,  but  plain,  edifying  Bible  language. 
Weygand's  intercourse  with  the  people  was  also  of  a  proper 
character.  His  complexion  revealed  to  the  scrutinizing  eye 
of  Miihlenberg  a  sanguine,  unsteady  temper — an  observation 
in  which,  as  the  future  amply  demonstrated,  he  was  not  mis- 
taken. But  the  man  was  not  a  hypocrite  nor  undeserving  of 
the  active  sympathy  of  Miihlenberg. 

The  question  arose  where  Weygand  might  best  be  em- 
ployed. It  was  proposed  to  send  him  as  a  parochial  teacher 
to  Lancaster.  Finally,  J.  Jac.  Loeser  took  that  position,  to 

15 


226  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

the  great  advantage  of  the  congregation  and  the  children. 
In  his  own  house  Miihlenberg  could  not  properly  employ 
and  keep  his  guest.  It  was  after  due  consideration  decided 
to  send  him  to  the  Raritan  congregations.  He  began  his 
labors  as  a  catechist  among  them  in  November,  1748.  He 
was  permitted  to  preach,  to  teach,  to  baptize,  and,  in  very 
exceptional  cases,  to  administer  the  Lord's  Supper  to  per- 
sons in  peril  of  death.  Miihlenberg,  who,  as  we  know,  since 
1745  had  had  the .  supervision  of  these  congregations,  visit- 
ing them  for  a  number  of  years  from  time  to  time,  rinding 
there  in  August,  1749,  thirty  catechumens  whom  Weygand 
had  instructed,  confirmed  them,  and  held  the  Lord's  Supper 
with  them  and  with  the  congregations.  Weygand  proved 
himself  diligent  and  faithful,  but  allowed  his  sanguine  tem- 
per sometimes  to  do  harm  to  himself  and  to  others.  This 
was  the  case  in  connection  with  his  entering  into  the  state  of 
wedlock.  It  appears  that  in  December,  1749,  in  a  rather  hasty 
and  informal  manner  he  asked  an  elder  of  one  of  the  congre- 
gations— under  whose  roof  he  lodged,  and  who,  being  a  man 
in  good  circumstances,  had  shown  his  liberality  in  assisting  to 
build  the  church,  buying  an  organ  and  in  other  ways — for  the 
hand  of  his  daughter.  The  father,  surprised  by  the  abrupt- 
ness of  the  petitioner,  hesitated  for  a  moment  and  wished  to 
have  some  time  for  consideration.  This  was  enough  to  irri- 
tate Weygand  to  such  a  degree  that  he  at  once  went  to  a  cer- 
tain Van  Dieren  (Doeren,  Diiren),  asked  of  him  the  hand  of 
one  of  his  daughters,  and  without  any  further  delay  was  united 
with  her  in  marriage.  This  was,  under  all  aspects,  a  very 
unwise  procedure,  but  was  aggravated  by  the  connection 
which  Weygand  formed  by  this  step.  This  man,  J.  B.  van 
Dieren,  was  a  tailor  who  had  come,  with  books  given  him  by 
the  Rev.  A.  W.  Boehme,  predecessor  of  Ziegenhagen  at  St. 
James  Chapel  at  London,  as  a  sort  of  colporteur  to  this  coun- 
try, ambitious  enough  to  enter  the  clerical  rank,  but  unable  to 
receive  or  to  prove  ordination.  Creating  disturbances  in  con- 
gregations on  the  Hudson,  he  was  violently  proclaimed  as 
an  impostor  by  Rev.  W.  Chr.  Berkenmeier  in  pamphlets,  let- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  22/ 

ters,  and  speeches,  and  finally  settled  in  the  Raritan  congre- 
gations. His  character  and  career  were  equally  doubtful. 
Weygand's  inconsiderate  step  in  marrying  under  such  cir- 
cumstances, and  into  this  man's  family,  created,  as  would  be 
expected,  an  unpleasant  sensation  which  was  not  diminished 
by  his  subsequently  urging  the  congregations — just  then  con- 
siderably burdened  by  the  erection  of  a  large  church-build- 
ing— to  buy  him  a  farm.  The  farm,  however,  was  bought  as 
a  new  evidence  of  the  forbearance  and  the  good-will  of  the 
people,  and  the  debts  of  the  congregations  were  thereby  in- 
creased. Weygand  expected  to  be  ordained  at  the  meeting 
of  synod  at  Providence,  June  17,  1750;  three  elders  of  his 
congregations,  however,  most  obstinately  protested  against  it. 
The  act  had  to  be  postponed,  to  the  great  disappointment  of 
the  candidate,  until  December  of  the  same  year,  when,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  dedication  of  the  new  church,  a  committee 
consisting  of  Brunnholtz,  Handschuh,  Hartwig,  Kurtz,  and 
Schaum  ordained  Weygand  with  the  consent  of  the  mem- 
bership. At  the  same  time  (Dec.  4th)  the  marriage  of  J.  H. 
Schaum — who  at  the  synodical  meeting  at  Lancaster,  June  4, 
1749,  after  being  examined,  had  received  ordination,  and  was 
by  this  act  created  regular  pastor  at  York — with  a  daughter 
of  B.  Pickel,  one  of  the  Raritan  elders,  took  place ;  to  which 
festivity  Muhlenberg  sent  his  congratulations  in  the  form  of  a 
poem.  Weygand,  in  consequence' of  great  disturbances  which 
had  taken  place  in  his  congregations,  accepted  in  1753  a  call 
to  the  congregations  of  Lutheran  Hollanders  at  New  York 
City  and  Hackensack,  N.  J.,  and  served  them  until  1767.  A 
short  memorandum  in  Miihlenberg's  diary  of  May,  1770,  in- 
forms us  that  at  that  time  Weygand  had  already  departed  this 
life.  The  latter  part  of  his  career,  unfortunately,  did  not  cor- 
respond with  the  good  promises  of  his  earlier  period. 

In  February,  1749,  £  young  man,  Ludolph  Henry  Schrenk, 
arrived  at  Philadelphia,  visited  Brunnholtz,  and  was  for  a  num- 
ber of  weeks  the  object  of  his  observation  and  kind  sympa- 
thy. His  means,  as  might  be  expected,  were  soon  exhausted. 
April  1 9th  of  the  same  year  the  marriage  of  J.  Fr.  Vigera, 


228  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

who  at  that  time  was  employed  as  a  teacher  in  Philadelphia, 
was  to  occur  in  Miihlenberg's  house  at  Providence.  He 
married  Miss  Anna  Stevenson,  who  had  been  brought  up  by 
her  mother  a  Quaker,  but  had  been  awakened  through  the 
preaching  of  Whitefield,  was  baptized  afterward  by  Muhlen- 
berg,  and  enjoyed  in  the  community  the  highest  esteem. 
Brunnholtz  was  to  perform  the  marriage  ceremony.  In  go- 
ing, with  some  other  Philadelphia  friends,  to  Providence,  he 
took  Schrenk  withjiim.  Miihlenberg  kindly  resolved  to  take 
care  of  him.  Schrenk  told  him  that  after  the  early  death  of 
his  father,  at  Liineburg,  he  was  reared  in  luxury  in  the  house 
of  his  guardian,  the  burgomaster  of  the  city,  and  was  sent 
to  the  University  of  Erlangen,  where  he  devoted  himself  to 
the  study  of  jurisprudence — without,  however,  finishing  his 
course,  since  his  means  were  exhausted.  Some  reports  of 
the  colonization  of  Georgia  having  excited  his  interest,  he 
went  to  London,  expecting  to  be  given  free  passage  to  that 
province  by  the  trustees.  What  he  knew  of  jurisprudence 
was  of  no  advantage  to  him.  He  had  the  strongest  reasons 
to  be  sincerely  thankful  to  Brunnholtz  and  Miihlenberg,  who, 
when  he  had  found  his  way  to  Pennsylvania,  stretched  their 
helping  hands  out  to  him  in  his  distressed  condition.  Miihl- 
enberg provided  for  him  for  six  months  and  gave  him  theo- 
logical instruction  ;  Brunnholtz  furnished  the  necessary  books 
and  assisted  him  in  other  ways.  It  seems  that  during  this 
period  the  conduct  of  Schrenk  was  quite  satisfactory.  He 
gave  promise  of  qualifying  himself  in  a  suitable  manner  for 
the  service  of  the  Church.  Occasion  was  given  him,  in  the 
outlying  congregations  to  exercise  himself  in  catechising  and 
preaching  under  the  supervision  of  Miihlenberg,  and  finally 
(Nov.  20,  1/49)  he  was  regularly  introduced  by  him  as  cate- 
chist  in  the  congregations  of  Upper  Milford  and  Saccum, 
with  the  understanding  that  he  should  take  care  also  of  Bir- 
kensee  and  the  Forks  of  Lehigh  and  Delaware  (now  Easton). 
On  that  occasion  Miihlenberg,  when  holding  preparatory  ser- 
vice and  administering  the  Lord's  Supper  in  these  congrega- 
tions, refused  to  admit  to  the  sacrament  two  Wiirtemberg- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  229 

ers  because  they  were  proper  subjects  for  church  discipline. 
Schrenk  at  first  felt  the  uncomfortable  smallness  of  the  lodg- 
ings which  were  at  his  command,  but  went  at  his  work  with 
an  honest  will.  We  find  that  Miihlenberg  on  various  occa- 
sions in  his  diary  pronounces  a  good  opinion  of  him.  At  the 
synodical  meeting  at  Lancaster,  June  4  and  5,  1749,  Schrenk 
was  present.  His  labors  as  a  missionary  he  extended  gradu- 
ally even  beyond  the  Blue  Mountains,  and  his  congregations 
were  well  pleased  with  his  services  and  conduct.  Consider- 
ing the  urgent  necessity  existing  for  regular  pastors  in  more 
distant  localities,  the  synod  meeting  at  Germantown,  Oct.  12, 
1762,  resolved  upon  his  ordination  and  that  of  one  other  can- 
didate ;  which,  after  examination,  was  accordingly  done,  Nov. 
5th,  at  Providence.  When,  in  the  following  year,  Weygand 
left  the  Raritan  congregations,  Schrenk  was,  on  the  occasion 
of  a  visit  of  Miihlenberg,  requested  by  them  as  pastor;  which 
request  was  granted.  His  congregations  in  Pennsylvania 
were  served  for  some  time  by  a  catechist,  John  Andrew  Fri- 
derici,  who  for  a  season  had  been  a  fellow-student  of  Miihlen- 
berg at  Gottingen. 

Schrenk  continued  his  labors  in  the  Raritan  congregations 
until  1756.  In  this  year  he  left  them  suddenly  in  consequence 
of  disastrous  disturbances  which  to  some  extent  existed  there 
before  he  entered  that  field  of  labor,  but  were  by  his  injudi- 
cious conduct  greatly  aggravated.  It  may  be  that  his  success 
in  the  clerical  profession  unduly  elated  him,  or  that  his  nerv- 
ous system  was  in  a  state  of  morbid  excitement  bordering  on 
insanity ;  certainly  his  prospects  in  those  congregations  in  a 
short  time  totally  vanished.  And  now  he  entertained  the  absurd 
idea  that  Miihlenberg  was  the  cause  of  his  misfortune,  while 
the  fact  was  that  toward  some  of  the  officers  of  his  congre- 
gations he  had  privately  and  publicly  behaved  in  a  manner 
which  men  of  any  degree  of  self-respect  would  nowhere  tol- 
erate. Leaving  his  field  of  labor,  he  first  came  to  Philadel- 
phia, and  there  slandered  Miihlenberg  before  Brunnholtz  and 
the  officers  and  members  of  the  congregation,  accusing  him  of 
having  driven  him  out  of  his  parish,  and  here  and  there  by 


230  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

his  representations  succeeding  in  creating  impressions  unfavor- 
able to  Muhlenberg,  who  had  no  opportunity  to  state  the  facts 
of  the  case.  Even  to  the  Reformed  minister,  Rev.  Michael 
Schlatter,  who  stood  in  very  friendly  relations  with  Muhlen- 
berg, he  made  malicious  insinuations.  Schlatter,  however,  in 
his  straightforward  manner  said,  "  I  know  Muhlenberg  better. 
You  act  most  ungratefully ;  if  you  know  no  more  than  this, 
you  are  quite  welcome  to  leave."  Following  this  judicious 
advice,  Schrenk  left  Philadelphia  for  New  York,  continued  his 
slanders  at  New  York,  and,  instead  of  hastening  forward  on  a 
pretended  return  to  Europe  with  the  view  to  raise  a  large  in- 
heritance, moved  Weygand  to  make  him  his  substitute  in  the 
Hackensack  and  another  outlying  small  congregation,  Rem- 
merspach,  in  New  Jersey.  Within  six  months  he  had  suc- 
ceeded in  producing  there  such  a  confusion  that  he  was 
obliged  to  leave  in  disgrace.  After  some  time,  hearing  that 
there  was  a  church  of  Lutheran  Hollanders  in  Cura9ao,  in 
South  America,  he  embarked  for  that  distant  place,  fell  sick 
after  his  arrival  there,  was  maintained  by  charity,  and  was  sent 
after  half  a  year  to  Charleston,  S.  C.  Here  he  was  advised  to 
offer  his  services  to  one  of  the  inland  congregations  or  to 
become  a  slave-overseer  on  a  plantation.  He  preferred  to 
return  to  Pennsylvania,  had  the  hardihood  to  come  to  Muhl- 
enberg at  Providence  with  an  introduction  sentimentally  given 
him  by  Handschuh — of  whose  local  and  official  changes  we 
shall  hear — and  acted  so  well  the  part  of  a  humble,  contrite, 
totally  broken-down  sinner  whose  spiritual  sorrow  bordered 
on  complete  despair — pretending,  besides,  that  he  was  suffer- 
ing some  bodily  ailments  which  necessitated  his  return  to 
Germany  to  undergo  there  an  operation — that  Muhlenberg, 
in  the  spring  of  1759,  though  at  first  rather  cool  toward  him, 
felt  his  heart  softened,  allowed  him  to  board  in  his  house 
with  a  young  family  which  we  shall  mention  hereafter,  while 
he  with  his  own  family  intended  to  spend  a  year  in  the  Rar- 
itan  congregations,  and  even  permitted  Schrenk  to  fill  his 
place  in  Providence  and  New  Hanover.  A  few  months  were 
sufficient  to  prove  that  this  time  Miihlenberg's  judgment 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2$l 

and  kindness  were  at  fault.  The  conduct  of  Schrenk  toward 
the  family  with  whom  he  boarded  in  Miihlenberg's  house  at 
Providence  was  outrageous ;  he  even,  in  one  of  his  spasms,  in 
the  presence  of  Mrs.  Miihlenberg,  who  had  returned  from  the 
Raritan  in  September,  a  week  before  her  husband,  laid  hands 
on  the  young  host  in  a  violent  manner,  and  afterward,  when 
sobered  down,  acted  as  if  he  intended  to  commit  suicide.  He 
had  not  only  given  no  satisfaction  as  a  substitute  of  Miihlen- 
berg,  but  among  the  members  of  the  congregations  tried  to 
injure  the  character  of  his  benefactor.  Miihlenberg,  coming 
home,  learned  these  things.  Schrenk,  knowing  that  there  was 
no  longer  any  prospect  for  him  there,  demanded  fifteen  pounds 
for  his  services ;  which  sum  Miihlenberg  borrowed  to  pay  the 
charges  of  the  captain  with  whom  Schrenk  embarked  for 
Europe.  In  1764,  Miihlenberg  incidentally  mentions  in  a 
letter  the  report  that  Schrenk  was  preaching  in  Ireland  to 
Lutherans.  There  was  a  German  Protestant  congregation  in 
those  times  at  Dublin.  Hundreds  of  the  Palatines  who  in  1709 
encamped  near  London  in  the  direction  of  Greenwich  were 
settled  by  the  English  government  in  the  south-west  of  Ire- 
land. It  is  said  that  the  German  language  was  used  by  them 
even  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century.  Taking  a  retro- 
spect of  his  experience  in  this  case,  Miihlenberg  writes  in  his 
diary,  "  If  ever  a  mortal  creature  abused  my  kindness  and  took 
advantage  of  my  forbearance,  it  was  that  man  Schrenk." 


232  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER    XV. 

1748  et  seq.  (continued}. 

Lucas  Raus  of  Transylvania. — His  parentage  and  education. — Brunnholtz  and 
Muhlenberg's  interest  in  him. — He  labors  as  catechist  at  Old  Goshenhoppen, 
Indianfield,  and  Tohicon. — He  is  sent  to  Hartwig's  congregation  on  the  Hud- 
son.— His  ordination  and  marriage. — His  call  to  York,  and  final  severance 
from  synod  and  the  pastorate. — Rev.  G.  S.  Klug's  visit  to  Pennsylvania. — His 
successors,  J.  Schwarbach,  J.  Frank. — Muhlenberg  at  the  meeting  of  synod  at 
Lancaster,  1749. — He  visits  again  Upper  Milford,  Saccum,  Easton,  and  Bir- 
kensee,  and  the  Raritan  congregations ;  erection  of  churches  at  New  German- 
town  and  Bedminster. — His  services  desired  at  Indianfield. — Synodical  meet- 
ing at  Providence,  1750. — Tob.  Wagner  appears  there. 

ON  the  morning  of  Nov.  20,  1749,  the  year  of  the  arrival 
of  L.  H.  Schrenk,  another  young  man,  Lucas  Raus, 
landed  at  Philadelphia,  and  at  first  also  became  the  object 
of  the  pity  of  Brunnholtz.  Raus  was  born  Oct.  18,  1724,  at 
Marienburg,  near  Cronstadt,  in  Transylvania,  in  which  town 
his  father  was  a  minister  of  the  gospel.  His  grandfather  had 
lost  his  eyesight  in  his  fourth  year,  but  so  earnestly  devoted 
himself  to  literary  studies  that  he  also  was  called  into  the  ser- 
vice of  one  of  the  congregations  of-  his  country,  and  most 
successfully  presided  over  it  for  many  years.  Lucas  Raus 
was  given  a  liberal  education  by  his  godly  parents.  That  as 
a  boy  he  often  read  to  his  mother  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's  Progress, 
Arndt's  True  Christianity,  and  similar  books  is  indicative  of 
the  spirit  prevailing  in  the  family.  Raus  was  not  yet  ten 
years  old  when  his  father  died.  The  mother  moved  to  the 
residence  of  the  grandparents  to  nurse  them,  and  intended  to 
send  young  Lucas,  after  he  had  finished  his  preparatory 
school-education,  to  the  University  of  Halle.  Having  at- 
tended classical  schools  in  Transylvania,  he  was  sent  in 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  233 

1743  to  Presburg  in  Hungary;  left,  after  a  year,  for  Pesth, 
and  thence  went  (Nov.  17,  1744)  to  the  classical  school  of 
the  Reformed  Church  of  Hungary  at  Losonz,  which  in  those 
years  was  well  patronized  also  by  many  Lutherans.  A 
doctor  of  medicine,  Daniel  Perlitzius,  also  a  Lutheran,  took 
an  interest  in  him,  assisted  him  financially,  and  sent  him  to 
the  Lutheran  college  at  Neusohl,  where  he  continued  his 
studies  until  1747,  in  which  year  (April  27th)  he  arrived  at 
Leipsic,  and  May  1st  at  Jena.  While  there,  in  Nov.,  1748, 
his  mother  died,  but  his  two  sisters,  married  in  Transylvania, 
provided  for  him  with  motherly  care.  In  those  times  the 
Evangelicals  in  all  Austria  were  treated  by  the  empress  Maria 
Theresa  with  suspicion  and  oppressed.  In  Transylvania  some 
of  their  ministers  were  thrown  into  prison,  and  in  some  places 
they  were  tyrannically  deprived  of  their  churches  and  schools. 
Under  such  prospects  Lucas  Raus  resolved  to  go  to  Amer- 
ica. After  considerable  hardship  he  arrived  (July  23,  1749) 
at  Amsterdam,  supported  by  a  letter  of  recommendation, 
addressed  himself  to  the  Lutheran  consistory,  and  was  told 
that  something  might  be  done  for  his  advancement  provided 
he  understood  the  Dutch  language.  Also  at  Rotterdam, 
which  he  reached  August  nth,  the  Lutheran  clergy  treated 
him  with  coldness.  Having  resolved  to  seek  a  field  of  labor 
in  Pennsylvania,  he  was  brought  by  a  captain  across  the 
ocean,  but,  not  being  in  a  condition  to  pay  his  fare,  he  was 
in  danger  of  being  taken  to  the  West  Indian  islands,  there  to 
be  sold  into  menial  service.  While  he  was  in  great  embar- 
rassment and  felt  exceedingly  depressed  a  man  appeared  on 
the  deck  of  the  vessel  and  handed  him  a  letter.  Raus  read 
the  letter  and  again  read  it.  He  did  not  know  whether  he 
was  awake  or  dreaming.  The  letter  was  addressed  to  him  by 
the  "  Rev.  Brunnholtz,  pastor  at  Philadelphia  and  German- 
town."  It  appears  that  Miihlenberg  was  at  that  time  on  a 
visit  to  Philadelphia.  He,  Brunnholtz,  and  H.  Keppele,  an 
elder  of  the  Lutheran  congregation,  a  very  worthy  man,  heard 
of  the  young  student  on  board  of  the  ship.  Keppele  advised 
caution  in  dealing  with  him;  Miihlenberg  and  Brunnholtz  felt 


234  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

pity  for  him;  took  fifteen  pounds  out  of  the  charitable  gifts 
from  Halle,  satisfied  the  claims  of  the  captain,  and  Raus  ar- 
rived (Nov.  23d)  at  the  lodgings  of  Brunnholtz,  who  treated 
him  with  great  kindness,  helped  him  to  earn  some  money  by 
giving  instruction,  and  cherished  good  hopes  of  him,  but  did 
not. receive  the  thanks  his  charity  deserved.  Raus  soon  began 
to  speak  of  his  host  in  a  very  unkind  manner,  raised  suspicions 
against  him,  and  created  the  impression  that  he  was  secretly 
intriguing  to  dislodge  Brunnholtz  and  to  take  his  place.  The 
manner  in  which  he  availed  himself  of  the  permission  to  preach 
in  some  places  was  not  calculated  to  show  any  superiority  in 
this  direction.  He  seemed  from  the  first  to  be  fond  of  a  com- 
fortable, inactive  life,  and  exhibited  in  his  manners  the  results 
of  a  public  education,  in  which,  from  the  protracted  depriva- 
tion of  a  mother's  and  a  family's  refining  influences,  the  feel- 
ings had  become  blunted  and  selfishness  had  obtained  sway. 
While  he  undoubtedly  with  a  sincere  heart  professed  Chris- 
tian principles,  and  was  in  his  walk  and  conversation  correct 
and  deserving  of  all  respect,  he  was  often  controlled  by  a 
violent  temper,  obstinate  prejudices,  and  unfounded  suspicions 
against  those  who  had  given  the  strongest  evidences  of  good- 
will toward  him.  Excitable  and  sensitive  as  he  was,  he 
was  easily  offended,  and  was  apt  just  as  easily  to  offend. 
When  in  Philadelphia  he  had  behaved  unwisely  and  against 
his  own  best  interests.  Miihlenberg,  unwilling  to  ignore  the 
good  and  useful  elements  in  Raus,  acted  as  he  had  done  in 
Schrenk's  case — "charity  beareth  all  things,  believeth  all 
things,  endureth  all  things " — took  him  to  his  house  and 
family  at  Providence,  and  permitted  him  to  hold  services  in 
the  outlying  congregations  of  Old  Goshenhoppen,  Indian- 
field,  and  Tohicon,  in  which  there  were  numbers  of  members 
not  attached  to  Andreae,  who  was  at  that  time  the  incumbent 
of  those  charges,  and  continued  so  until,  on  account  of  his 
abject  character  and  life,  even  his  former  associates  and  sup- 
porters became  ashamed  of  him  and  dismissed  him. 

During  the  summer  of  1750,  Miihlenberg  visited  Hartwig's 
congregation  on  the  Hudson.     After  his  return,  and  while 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  235 

Hartwig  sojourned  in  Pennsylvania,  Raus,  in  the  capacity  of 
a  catechist,  was  sent  in  October  of  the  same  year  to  these 
congregations.  In  the  following  spring  the  congregations  in 
Pennsylvania  which  he  had  formerly  served  were  open  to 
him,  and,  in  agreement  with  the  other  united  pastors,  Miihl- 
enberg  framed  a  sort  of  a  call  and  instruction  for  Raus,  who 
now  moved  into  that  field,  met  among  the  people  with  no 
very  gratifying  success,  was  (Nov.  5,  1752)  ordained  with  Wey- 
gand  "under  pressure  of  circumstances,"  and  in  1753  mar- 
ried a  very  respectable  young  woman,  on  which  occasion 
Miihlenberg  offered  his  house  for  holding  the  customary 
festivities.  Raus,  having  bought  a  very  poor  piece  of  ground, 
became  burdened  with  debt,  as  a  pastor  could  not  sustain  his 
family,  and  devoted  himself  more  to  medical  practice,  based 
upon  instruction  received  in  Germany,  than  to  the  pastoral 
office.  Troubled  by  suspicions  that  Miihlenberg  and  the 
other  pastors  received  salaries  from  Halle,  he  became  more 
and  more  estranged  from  them.  When,  in  1754,  Schaum 
resigned  the  congregation  at  York,  Raus  was  called  there 
after  a  visit  made  in  company  with  Handschuh.  When 
Miihlenberg,  in  Handschuh's  presence,  handed  him  the  docu- 
ment of  the  call,  Raus,  acting  with  strange  contradiction  to  him- 
self, appeared  to  be  very  indignant  and  charged  the  brethren 
with  being  false  toward  him  and  desirous  of  placing  him  far 
away  on  the  frontiers.  Muhlenberg,  deeply  grieved  and  offend- 
ed, returned  the  document  to  York,  where  Raus  took  care  to 
misrepresent  the  whole  transaction,  and  afterward,  without 
giving  Muhlenberg  any  information,  suddenly  left  his  charge 
(1758)  and  entered  upon  the  service  at  York,  where  during 
the  intervening  years  no  pastor  had  been  regularly  called  and 
settled.  He  took  now  a  decidedly  antagonistic  position  toward 
the  Halle  pastors,  sent  calumniating  letters  to  Weygand  at 
New  York,  and  could  no  longer  be  considered  as  belonging 
to  synod;  wherefore  Muhlenberg,  as  presiding  officer,  in  1760 
did  not  invite  him  to  the  yearly  meeting.  In  the  following 
year,  when  synod  met  at  Lancaster,  he  was  invited  by  the 
pastor,  Rev.  J.  S.  Gerock,  to  attend  the  meeting.  Raus  first 


236  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

sent  an  offensive  letter,  but  changed  his  mind,  appeared  per- 
sonally, and  in  a  most  improper  manner  used  the  occasion  to 
wound  the  feelings  of  synod.  He  also  made  serious  charges 
concerning  doctrine  and  conduct  against  Muhlenberg,  all  of 
which  were  found  to  be  untrue  by  a  committee  of  investiga- 
tion consisting  of  two  Swedish  ministers.  Muhlenberg  in  this 
flagrant  instance  also  experienced  the  ingratitude  of  one  whom 
he  had  in  various  ways  benefited.  Of  course  Raus  was  not 
willing  to  acknowledge  his  wrong.  His  connection  with 
synod  ceased  for  ever,  and  a  few  years  later  he  also  ceased 
to  be  pastor  at  York,  though  he,  with  his  family,  continued 
at  York,  practised  medicine  (as  tradition  has  it),  assisted  occa- 
sionally in  pastoral  work  in  the  York  church,  and  served  some 
neighboring  congregations  as  pastor.  He  died  July  7,  1788. 
Some  of  his  descendants  are  living  in  York,  and  occupy  a  high 
place  in  the  respect  of  the  Lutheran  Church  and  of  the  com- 
munity. 

In  the  year  1749,  Muhlenberg,  Brunnholtz,  and  Handschuh 
made  the  acquaintance  of  another  clerical  brother  who  at  that 
time  came  as  a  visitor  from  Virginia — Rev.  George  Samuel 
Klug.  When  the  elder  J.  C.  Stoever  in  1737  went  on  a  collect- 
ing-tour to  Germany  from  his  charge  in  Virginia,  Klug,  born 
at  Elbing  and  a  candidate  for  holy  orders,  declared  himself 
willing,  as  an  assistant  of  Stoever,  to  go  to  Virginia,  where 
he  arrived  in  1739.  Stoever  on  his  return  dying  at  sea  in 
1738,  Klug  succeeded  him  in  the  charge.  We  can  easily 
understand  that  a  pastor  situated  as  Klug  was  in  an  isolated 
German  Lutheran  congregation  and  surrounded  by  English 
clergymen  of  other  creeds,  connections,  and  language — 
indebted,  also,  for  his  whole  education  to  the  schools  and 
institutions  of  Germany — would  feel  a  strong  desire  to  meet 
German  clerical  brethren,  whose  intercourse  would  refresh, 
animate,  and  encourage  him.  This  moved  Klug  to  under- 
take a  journey  of  some  three  hundred  miles  from  Madison 
county,  Va.,  to  Eastern  Pennsylvania.  He  was  kindly  re- 
ceived, and  gave  information  about  the  condition  of  his  field 
of  labor.  Compared  with  pastoral  life  in  the  various  united 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG. 

congregations  of  Pennsylvania,  Klug  was  in  Virginia  in  a 
much  easier  situation.  Stoever  and  the  two  officers  of  his 
congregation  accompanying  him  had  collected  in  Europe  about 
three  thousand  pounds,  of  which  sum  two-thirds  were  used 
for  building  a  church,  which  was  done  in  1740,  and  for  buy- 
ing a  glebe  and  negroes  to  cultivate  it.  In  this  way  the  sup- 
port of  the  pastor  was  provided  for,  and  he  found  himself,  in 
his  relation  to  his  congregation,  in  a  more  independent  posi- 
tion. The  erection  of  the  church  also  occasioned  him  no  par- 
ticular difficulties.  The  structure  was  in  the  shape  of  a  cross, 
and  was  built  of  such  strong  material  that  it  even  now  answers 
the  necessities  of  the  congregation.  It  appears  that  Klug  was 
a  man  of  perfectly  respectable  character — not,  however,  in  full 
sympathy  with  the  views  and  feelings  of  the  pastors  of  the 
Halle  school,  and  for  this  reason  no  closer  connection  by 
correspondence  or  synodical  co-operation,  which  to  a  great 
extent  would  have  been  rendered  very  difficult  owing  to  the 
distance,  was  established  between  them  and  him.  It  also 
appears  that  the  English  clergymen  in  the  midst  of  whom 
Klug  with  his  German  Lutheran  congregation  was  situated 
had  agreeable  intercourse  with  him,  but  were  not  of  such  cha- 
racter as  to  advance  his  spirituality.  In  the  year  1746  the 
vagabond  Carl  Rudolph  also  visited  his  field  of  labor  and 
produced  some  temporary  disturbance.  Somewhat  later — 
possibly  before  the  death  of  Klug,  which,  as  we  learn  from  a 
synodical  report  of  Miihlenberg  of  1763,  had  taken  place 
before  this  year,  most  probably  in  1761 — a  number  of  Dun- 
kers  moved  to  the  neighborhood  of  Klug's  congregation,  and 
were  successful  in  alienating  some  of  the  members  and  in 
considerably  disquieting  the  congregation.  A  few  years  later 
we  find  that  the  Lutherans  who  had  settled  in  divers  parts  of 
Virginia  became  an  object  of  concern  to  Miihlenberg  and  the 
synod,  and  some  men  were  laboring  in  that  field  who  stood 
in  direct  relation  to  the  ministerium  of  the  Lutheran  Church 
in  Pennsylvania.  Miihlenberg  seriously  entertained  the  idea 
of  making  a  missionary-tour  to  Virginia :  he  was  prevented 
from  doing  so  by  the  engagements  and  responsibilities  he 


238  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

held  in  Pennsylvania.  Letters  of  Sept.  I  and  2,  1768,  from 
officers  of  the  Lutheran  congregation  at  Culpeper,  Va.,  and 
from  a  catechist,  John  Schwarbach,  formerly  a  school-teacher, 
who  for  a  time  had  held  religious  services  in  outlying  congre- 
gations, Manchester  and  Paradise,  near  York,  Pa.,  but  then  la- 
boring in  that  field,  were  laid  before  synod  at  New  Hanover, 
Nov.  7  of  the  same  year.  The  catechist  says  that  he  had  in- 
structed and  confirmed  catechumens  in  seven  congregations 
during  a  period  of  six  months.  Lutheran  ministers  labored 
in  those  times  in  Virginia  under  the  difficulty  that  marriage 
ceremonies  performed  by  them  were  not  acknowledged  by 
the  courts,  while  marriages  performed  by  Episcopal  pres- 
byters were  legally  acknowledged.  J.  Schwarbach  left  Vir- 
ginia after  1772  and  moved  to  Pennsylvania,  where  we  meet 
him  in  1775  as  an  independent  pastor  without  synodical  con- 
nection. His  successor  in  Virginia  was  (1775-78)  J.  Frank, 
formerly  parochial  teacher  and  cantor  in  the  Philadelphia  con- 
gregation, whom  family  interests,  after  successful  work  in  Vir- 
ginia, caused  to  return  to  Philadelphia.  He  was  succeeded  in 
Virginia  (not  before  1783)  by  Paul  Henkel,  Gerhard  Hen- 
kel's  great-grandson,  who  settled  in  New  Market,  Shenan- 
doah  county,  Va.,  but  labored  as  a  missionary  in  a  very 
extensive  field,  and  visited  also  the  old  congregation  in  Cul- 
peper county.  Miihlenberg's  son,  Peter  Gabriel,  was  pastor 
of  Lutheran  congregations  in  this  province,  though  in  1772 
(April  21)  he  received  Episcopal  ordination  in  London, 
which  enabled  him  lawfully  to  perform  marriage  ceremonies 
in  Virginia.  He  had  settled  in  the  autumn  of  1772  in  Wood- 
stock, west  of  Madison  and  Culpeper  counties,  beyond  the 
Blue  Mountains,  and  served  those  congregations — possibly 
also,  as  occasion  offered,  the  old  Hebron  church — until  Jan- 
uary, 1776,  when  he  exchanged  the  preacher's  gown  for  the 
military  uniform.  This  whole  subject  shall  again  claim  our 
attention. 

Jan.  15,  1749,  the  fourth  anniversary  of  the  arrival  of  Brunn- 
holtz,  J.  N.  Kurtz,  and  Schaum,  was  celebrated  at  Philadel- 
phia, and,  in  spite  of  the  wintry  season,  Muhlenberg  went 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  239 

thither  with  his  wife  and  C.  Weiser,  her  father.  His  health 
was  at  that  time  precarious ;  he  suffered  with  inflammation 
of  the  right  eye,  and,  in  addition  to  other  ailments,  had 
spells  of  fainting.  In  May  he  began  again  to  preach  in  Mo- 
latton,  and  promised  to  continue  his  services  there  during  the 
summer  as  circumstances  would  permit.  At  the  meeting  of 
synod  at  Lancaster  (June  4th  and  5th),  which  was  opened 
on  Sunday  by  solemn  procession  from  Handschuh's  private 
dwelling  to  the  church,  he  preached  on  Luke  xiv.  16.  In  the 
evening  of  the  same  day,  at  their  request,  he  preached  in  the 
Lutheran  church  to  the  English.  The  congregations  of  the 
Raritan  and  of  Upper  Milford  and  Saccum  had,  on  account 
of  the  great  distance,  sent  no  delegates,  but  in  their  stead  let- 
ters, which  were  publicly  read  before  synod.  At  that  meeting 
Schaum  was  examined  and  ordained.  In  July  and  August 
Miihlenberg  visited  Upper  Milford  and  Saccum,  also  the  two 
small  congregations  of  Forks  (Easton)  and  Birkensee.  In 
Upper  Milford  he  confirmed  seven  persons,  most  of  them 
adults  instructed  by  Schrenk  at  Saccum,  also  two  married 
Englishwomen  after  public  examination  and  profession  of 
faith.  In  the  month  of  August  he  also  paid  another  visit  to 
the  Raritan  congregations  and  Catechist  Weygand,  against 
whom  at  that  time  no  complaints  were  lodged.  The  people 
wanted  Miihlenberg  to  correspond  with  the  Fathers  concern- 
ing Weygand's  ordination,  but,  in  consequence  of  the  expe- 
rience obtained  in  Wolf's  time,  were  unwilling  to  give  their 
signatures  to  a  regular  call  unless  certain  limitations  were 
added  to  it.  Weygand  said  that,  though  he  was  permitted 
in  extraordinary  cases  to  administer  the  Lord's  Supper  to 
sick  members,  many  doubted  the  efficacy  of  his  administra- 
tion for  the  reason  that  he  was  not  ordained.  In  an  address 
after  his  sermon  Miihlenberg  tried  to  remove  these  prejudices, 
and,  being  very  much  exhausted,  after  having  consecrated  the 
elements  allowed  Weygand  to  give  the  cup  to  the  guests — 
a  liberty  of  which  the  Fathers  at  Halle  judiciously  kept  in 
harmless  ignorance  the  readers  of  the  Reports  on  the  "  United 
Evangelical  Lutheran  Congregations  in  North  America,  espe- 


24O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

cially  in  Pennsylvania."  Miihlenberg  afterward  held  service 
in  English  for  a  number  of  settlers  in  the  neighborhood 
who  could  not  understand  German.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  three  of  the  four  original  congregations,  urged  by  Miihl- 
enberg, had  undertaken  to  build  a  church  in  a  central  locality, 
and  were  at  that  time  engaged  in  erecting  it ;  in  vain  he  now 
made  efforts  to  persuade  the  fourth  congregation  to  join  them 
in  this  work :  the  distance  of  the  new  church  appeared  to  be 
too  great  for  them.  This  centrally-located  church  has  been 
known  to  us  since  1759  as  the  church  of  New  Germantown. 
Another  church  was  erected  by  the  other  part  of  the  old 
congregations  and  dedicated  by  Miihlenberg  in  1758,  and  is 
called  the  Bedminster  church.  The  former  names  of  the  four 
Raritan  congregations  seem  to  have  gone  out  of  use. 

Some  members  connected  with  the  Indianfield  congrega- 
tion, then  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  miserable  Andreae, 
being  not  willing  to  continue  longer  in  that  relation,  desired 
Miihlenberg  to  pay  them  a  visit.  Andreae's  party  held  the 
church.  Miihlenberg,  on  his  arrival  there  in  September,  1749, 
preached  in  a  private  house.  This  house  on  the  following 
occasions  not  affording  room  enough,  the  Reformed  kindly 
invited  Miihlenberg  to  their  church,  of  which  invitation  he 
availed  himself  on  week-days.  The  church  finally  not  offer- 
ing sufficient  room,  he  preached  under  the  open  sky  to  an 
assembly  consisting  of  representatives  of  sundry  denomina- 
tions. 

When,  in  November  of  the  same  year,  he  introduced  Schrenk 
as  catechist  in  Upper  Milford  and  Saccum,  he  went  as  far  as 
the  Forks  (Easton),  and,  returning  after  visiting  Birkensee, 
was  in  imminent  peril  of  his  life  in  crossing  the  frozen  Per- 
kiomen.  The  region  around  Birkensee  was  in  those  times 
especially  infected  with  unworthy  characters  pretending  to 
be  pastors. 

On  the  evening  of  Jan.  I,  1750,  during  the  father's  absence, 
Muhlenberg's  second  son  was  born.  The  grandfather,  Con- 
rad Weiser,  was  a  guest  in  the  house.  The  name  of  Frederick 
Augustus  Conrad  was  given  to  -the  child  in  baptism  on  Jan. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  24! 

1 5th,  in  honor  of  the  grandfather,  and  also  of  Dr.  Fred.  M. 
Ziegenhagen  and  Dr.  G.  Augustus  Francke,  who  were  re- 
quested to  act  as  sponsors,  two  of  them  in  absentia.  The  day 
of  baptism  was  also  the  anniversary  of  the  arrival  of  Brunn- 
holtz,  J.  N.  Kurtz,  and  J.  H.  Schaum.  Brunnholtz,  Weiser, 
Vigera,  and  Fr.  Marsteller,  the  faithful,  trustworthy  friend  of 
the  family,  enjoyed  on  that  occasion  the  hospitality  of  the 
parsonage  at  Providence.  In  the  beginning  of  March,  Brunn- 
holtz was  again  for  a  few  days  the  guest  of  the  Miihlenberg 
family.  While  he  was  at  Providence,  Handschuh  sent  word 
to  him  and  to  his  host  that  on  May  1st  he  intended  to  marry, 
and  requested  the  honor  of  their  presence.  Both  came,  with 
Kurtz,  at  the  appointed  time  to  Lancaster,  and  the  marriage 
(the  consequences  of  which  will  hereafter  engage  our  atten- 
tion) fook  place  at  the  appointed  time,  Tuesday,  May  1st. 

The  meeting  of  synod  was  this  year  to  take  place  at  Provi- 
dence ;  the  resolution  formerly  passed  to  hold  the  meetings 
alternately  at  Philadelphia  and  at  Lancaster  was  consequently 
at  least  practically  rescinded.  Miihlenberg  had  on  his  visit  to 
Lancaster  met  Stoever,  who  had  undergone  a  very  severe  spell 
of  sickness.  He  was  then  serving  a  number  of  congregations 
not  very  far  from  Tulpehoken,  was  intimate  with  Wagner,  and 
was  in  comfortable  circumstances.  Weiser  requested  Miihlen- 
berg and  his  brethren  to  invite  Stoever  and  Wagner  to  synod, 
for  reasons  which  were  not  without  force.  The  Rev.  Dr.  J. 
Ph.  Fresenius,  court-preacher  at  Darmstadt,  afterward  senior 
of  the  Lutheran  ministry  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  a  rela- 
tive of  Stoever,  had  plead  by  correspondence  for  a  union 
of  Stoever  with  the  united  pastors.  In  his  conversation  with 
Stoever  at  Lancaster,  Miihlenberg  had  asked  him  whether  he 
would  visit  synod  provided  an  invitation  were  sent  to  him : 
Stoever  said  he  could  not  make  a  promise  until  he  had  con- 
ferred with  Wagner.  Muhlenberg  added  that  he  had  in  his 
mind  no  more  than  a  neighborly  good  understanding.  Miihl- 
enberg's  colleagues  objected,  and  did  not  wish  Stoever's  pres- 
ence at  the  transaction  of  the  regular  business  of  synod  and 
at  the  then  proposed  ordination  of  Weygand  ;  which,  however, 

16 


242  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

as  we  know,  did  not  take  place  at  that  synodical  meeting. 
Finally,  it  was  resolved  to  invite  Stoever  and  Wagner  to  be 
present  the  day  after  the  regular  meeting  of  synod.  At  this 
Stoever  was  very  indignant,  and  gave  vent  to  his  feelings  in 
a  long  and  acrimonious  letter.  Wagner  was  present  on  the 
appointed  day  and  gave  the  brethren  a  piece  of  his  mind  with- 
out any  reservation,  but  consented  to  what  Miihlenberg  calls  a 
"  neighborly  amnesty." 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  243 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

1748  et  seq.  (continued}. 

Arrival  of  Israel  Acrelius,  the  Swedish  provost. — Relations  between  Swedish  and 
German  Lutheran  pastors. — Acrelius's  History  of  New  Sweden. — Conrad 
Weiser  and  Miihlenberg  visit  Hartwig's  congregations  on  the  Hudson. — 
Visit  to  Bethlehem. — Experiences  of  the  travellers.— Miihlenberg  as  peace- 
maker in  Hartwig's  congregations. — He  and  Hartwig  set  sail  for  New  York. 
— The  Dutch  Lutheran  congregation  there. — Difficulties  on  account  of  the 
demands  of  the  German  Lutherans. — Formation  of  a  German  congregation. — 
Muhlenberg  meets  Berkenmeier  and  preaches  in  the  Dutch  Lutheran  church 
in  German  and  in  English. — On  his  return  to  Pennsylvania  he  visits  the  Rar- 
itan  congregations. — Hartwig  sojourns  in  Pennsylvania. 

DURING  the  summer  of  1750  the  Rev.  Israel  Acrelius  of 
Sweden,  pastor  of  the  Swedish  Lutheran  church  at 
Christina  (Wilmington,  Del.)  and  provost  of  the  Swedish 
Lutheran  pastors  of  the  Swedish  congregations  on  the  Del- 
aware, arrived  on  the  field  of  his  future  labors.  In  this 
office  of  provost  he  had  only  one  predecessor,  the  Rev.  John 
Sandin,  whom  we  have  already  met,  and  who,  after  a  very  suc- 
cessful beginning  of  his  labors  during  a  few  months,  died  in 
August  of  the  year  1748.  The  office  had  been  instituted,  by 
the  advice  of  Archbishop  Jacob  Berzelius  of  Sweden,  who  had 
the  Swedish  churches  in  America  under  his  supervision,  by  a 
royal  decree  of  January,  1747,  to  prevent  irregularities  caused 
in  some  of  them  by  Moravian  intrusion  and  other  disturbing 
elements.  Acrelius  was  appointed  provost  May  29,  1749.  He 
was  intended  at  first  as  pastor  for  Raccoon  and  Pennsneck, 
N.  J.,  but  information  of  Tranberg's  death  having  been  re- 
ceived, he  was  at  once  transferred  to  Christina,  and  left  Stock- 
holm July  20th,  arriving  at  Philadelphia  Nov.  6,  1749,  in 
company  with  Rev.  Eric  Unander,  appointed  to  serve  at 


244  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

Raccoon  and  Pennsneck.  From  the  Wicaco  church  at  Phil- 
adelphia, Naesman  was  recalled  to  Sweden  in  1749,  though 
he  did  not  leave  Philadelphia  before  November,  1751,  and 
did  not  arrive  in  Sweden  until  late  in  1752.  His  successor  in 
Wicaco  church,  Olof  Parlin,  arrived  at  Philadelphia  on  July 
7,  1750.  In  1755,  Acrelius  was  recalled,  and  ordered,  before 
leaving,  to  appoint  Parlin  provost,  provided  no  special  order 
should  have  come  from  Sweden.  Acrelius's  departure  was 
delayed  until  1756;  in  June  of  that  year  Parlin's  commission 
came  from  Sweden.  He,  however,  departed  this  life  on  Dec. 
22,  1757. 

The  Swedish  ministers  on  the  Delaware  had  from  early 
times  held  pleasant  relations  with  the  German  Lutheran  pas- 
tors :  it  is  true  that  they  also  served,  as  occasion  was  given, 
congregations  of  the  Anglican  Church.  We  find  that  already 
in  1721  the  Rev.  Hesselius,  pastor  of  the  Swedish  church  at 
Christina,  received  from  the  (Episcopal)  "  Society  for  the  Prop- 
agation of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,"  at  London,  the  sum 
of  ten  pounds  "  for  reading  prayers  and  preaching  in  the  sev- 
eral vacant  churches  in  Pennsylvania,"  and  that  his  services 
were  further  required;  but  we  have  documentary  evidence 
that  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  of  Sweden  directly  ordered 
the  missionaries  going  to  America  to  maintain  a  friendly  rela- 
tion with  the  united  German  Lutheran  pastors. 

It  appears  that  Brunnholtz  met  Acrelius  soon  after  his 
arrival  in  Pennsylvania,  and  reported  to  Miihlenberg  that  he 
had  formed  a  very  favorable  impression  of  the  new  provost 
and  of  his  clerical  companion,  and  that  Acrelius  had  promised 
to  be  present  at  the  meeting  of  synod.  When  synod  met  at 
Providence,  Acrelius  did  not  come.  In  explanation  he  had 
sent  to  Brunnholtz  a  special  message  which  never  reached 
him.  Acrelius,  as  he  afterward  explained  in  a  very  courteous 
letter  in  Latin  and  addressed  to  Miihlenberg,  had  been  de- 
tained by  official  duties  and  by  circumstances  over  which  he 
had  no  control.  Miihlenberg,  after  informing  him — in  a  letter 
also  in  Latin — that  Nyberg,  of  whom  we  have  heard,  had 
spread  the  report  that  the  Swedish  pastors  purposely  avoided 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  24$ 

coming  into  contact  with  the  German  Lutheran  pastors,  and 
would  much  rather  have  to  do  with  the  Moravians,  took  occa- 
sion to  express  his  deep  regret  that  the  brethren  assembled  in 
synod  had  been  disappointed  in  not  having  the  presence  of 
the  provost,  and  then  threw  some  light  on  the  character  and 
ways  of  Nyberg.  Acrelius  in  his  answer  expresses  his  utter 
disregard  of  this  man,  of  whose  principles  and  intrigues  he 
had  been  already  sufficiently  informed,  and  says  that  he  feels 
ashamed  of  such  a  countryman.  Ever  afterward  he  took 
occasion  to  show  his  highest  appreciation  of  the  character 
and  the  labors  of  Miihlenberg.  His  influence  upon  the 
Swedish  congregations  was  a  very  happy  one,  and,  while  he 
was  indefatigable  in  the  performance  of  his  official  duties,  he 
gathered  much  information  about  the  country  in  which  he 
was  a  stranger,  paid  in  1753  and  1754  visits  to  Ephrata  (the 
socialistic  community  of  the  Seventh-day  Bunkers  living  in 
conventual  seclusion),  and,  in  company  with  Brunnholtz, 
Unander,  and  Schleydorn  of  Philadelphia,  to  Bethlehem,  of 
which  he  left  to  posterity  highly-interesting  reports.  Fol- 
lowing his  literary  tastes,  he  assiduously  collected,  during 
his  sojourn  in  Pennsylvania,  the  material  for  his  History  of 
New  Sweden,  which  work  he  wrote  after  his  return  to  his 
native  land,  and  thereby  erected  for  himself  a  lasting  mon- 
ument. He  was  a  man  of  much  practical  tact,  ample  infor- 
mation, solid  and  sober  religious  convictions,  and  sound 
judgment.  Before  coming  to  America  he  had  served  as 
chaplain  in  the  Swedish  navy.  After  his  return  to  Sweden 
he  served  the  Church  of  his  country  through  many  years  as 
provost  and  pastor  at  Fellingsbro,  diocese  of  Westerns.  Miihl- 
enberg introduces  in  his  diary  (in  the  year  1784,  Oct.  2Oth)  a 
letter  addressed  to  him  under  date  June  15,  1784,  by  Rev.  C. 
M.  Wrangel,  D.  D.,  successor  of  Acrelius  in  the  provostship 
on  the  Delaware — of  whom  we  shall  hear  hereafter — wherein 
it  is  stated  that  at  that  time  Acrelius  was  almost  totally  blind 
and  unable  to  do  any  work.  It  is  said  that  he  died  in  the  year 
1800  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  years.  That  he  enjoyed  in  an 
eminent  degree  the  respect  and  the  good-will  of  the  united 


246  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

pastors  is  clearly  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  when,  in 
1752  (Oct.  1st),  at  the  meeting  of  synod,  the  dedication  of  St. 
Michael's  Church  in  Germantown  took  place,  he  was  requested 
to  perform  the  solemn  act.  He  had  an  accurate  knowledge 
of  the  German  language,  and  sometimes  preached,  likewise, 
in  the  English.  On  the  above-mentioned  occasion  Rev.  Olof 
Parlin,  also  pastor  of  Wicaco  church,  was  present. 

During  the  summer  of  1750,  Conrad  Weiser,  Esq.,  was 
requested  by  the  provincial  government  of  Virginia  to  meet 
representatives  of  the  Canadian  Indians  at  Albany.  He  in- 
tended at  the  same  time  to  visit  the  congregations  on  the 
Hudson,  where,  after  his  arrival  from  Europe  as  a  youth  in 
1710  and  the  following  years,  he  had  been  living.  There  he 
expected  once  more  to  see  some  of  his  old  friends  and  ac- 
quaintances. In  that  locality  Hartwig  had  the  field  of  his  pas- 
toral labors.  Weiser  invited  Miihlenberg  to  accompany  him. 
There  were  reasons  which  moved  Miihlenberg  to  accept  the 
invitation.  Hartwig  had  never  been  backward  in  showing  his 
sympathy  with  the  "  Hallenses  " — Miihlenberg  and  his  united 
brethren — and  paid  his  respects  to  them  by  repeatedly  visit- 
ing Pennsylvania.  He  had  a  right  to  expect  a  visit  in  return. 
He  was  laboring  under  difficulties  in  his  congregations,  and 
the  dissatisfaction  which  broke  out  among  his  parishioners 
was  a  weapon  which  Berkenmeier,  already  known  to  us  as  an 
opponent  of  the  pastors  of  the  Halle  school,  was  but  too  ready 
to  use  against  him.  The  condition  of  the  Lutherans  on  the 
Upper  and  Lower  Hudson  was  a  subject  calculated  to  engage 
the  interest  of  Miihlenberg,  and  to  hasten  his  resolution  to 
avail  himself  of  the  opportunity  now  offered  to  accompany 
his  father-in-law  on  this  journey. 

Aug.  1 6th,  Miihlenberg  started  on  horseback  from  Providence 
and  paid  a  short  visit  to  Schrenk,  whom  he  found  in  a  satisfac- 
tory condition,  and  who  on  the  I7th  became  his  companion  to 
Bethlehem.  Here  he  met  Weiser,  and  accompanied  him  to 
Bishop  Cammerhof,  who  treated  them  politely  and  conversed 
with  them  on  general  subjects.  This  was  the  first  time  that 
Miihlenberg  saw  Bethlehem.  He  found  there  large,  massive 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  247 

buildings,  used  for  schools  and  other  interests  peculiar  to  Mo- 
ravianism,  a  considerable  number  of  inhabitants — especially 
children — and  had  a  very  agreeable  prospect  of  the  Lehigh 
River,  the  valley,  and  the  well-wooded  mountains  rising  on 
the  south  side  of  the  river.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  same 
day,  with  Weiser  and  Weiser's  body-servant,  he  went  on,  by 
a  fine  road  laid  out  by  the  Moravians,  to  Nazareth,  one  of  the 
agricultural  stations  of  the  Moravians,  and  took  a  night's  rest 
at  an  inn  five  miles  distant.  Miihlenberg  enjoyed  the  journey 
to  the  Hudson,  though  made  under  considerable  difficulties. 
He  rode  a  stiff  old  horse ;  his  throat  was  so  sore  that  he 
could  hardly  make  himself  heard.  Before  leaving  his  home 
his  wife — in  those  days  wives  were  obliged  to  aid  in  the  most 
various  ways — had,  in  bleeding  him,  struck  the  vein  some- 
what too  deeply ;  in  consequence  of  this  mistake  his  hand 
was  swollen  and  painful.  He  says  he  certainly  presented  a 
pitiable  figure  as  a  traveller. 

Aug.  1 8th,  they  started  very  early,  had  to  pass  a  high 
rocky  ridge — probably  the  one  running  west  from  the  Del- 
aware Water  Gap — and  after  travelling  thirty-six  miles  were 
constrained  by  a  native  of  Holland  of  high  social  standing  in 
that  neighborhood,  an  old  acquaintance  of  Weiser's,  to  tarry 
with  him  over  night.  This  gentleman,  living  near  the  Penn- 
sylvania frontier,  seemed  to  be  an  honest,  well-meaning  man. 
The  government  had  years  before  appointed  him  a  justice  of 
the  peace,  but,  not  being  well  versed  in  law  questions  and  dis- 
tant from  the  residence  of  the  learned  representatives  of  the 
government,  he  found  himself  sometimes  considerably  per- 
plexed in  the  performance  of  his  official  duties.  In  such  cases 
he  gave  the  parties  appearing  before  him  and  expecting  his 
legal  aid  the  advice  to  go  into  the  yard  behind  the  house  and 
there  to  settle  the  dispute  by  the  right  of  might ;  when  this 
was  done  he  made  peace  between  them  and  allowed  them 
to  depart.  Under  such  circumstances  he  finally  lost  his  office 
and  retired  from  the  turmoil  of  a  restless  world.  He  was  now 
very  aged.  His  conversation  gave  evidence  of  his  firm  Chris- 
tian convictions :  he  said  grace  before  and  after  meals,  prayed 


248  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

in  a  truly  edifying  manner  before  going  to  rest,  and  his  dis- 
course was  full  of  good,  sound  judgment. 

Aug.  I Qth  the  travellers  crossed  the  Delaware,  possibly  not 
far  from  the  present  Stroudsburg,  Monroe  county,  Pa.,  and 
after  travelling  thirty-two  miles  visited  a  Dutch  Reformed 
minister,  with  whom  they  had  edifying  conversation.  Miihl- 
enberg  was  embarrassed  by  the  loss  of  his  voice  in  conse- 
quence of  his  severe  catarrh.  On  the  following  day  they 
made  forty  miles,  travelling  at  first  up  the  Delaware  through 
rough,  uncultivated  lands.  At  dinner,  which  was  offered 
them  by  another  old  acquaintance  of  Weiser,  also  a  justice 
of  the  peace  and  major  of  the  militia,  bear-steak  was  set 
before  them.  In  travelling  farther  they  met  a  live  bear, 
which,  however,  took  to  flight,  and  also  with  a  number  of 
Indians.  Over  night  they  stayed  in  the  wilderness  with  a 
man  called  "  the  old  Spaniard,"  because  his  father,  a  Spaniard, 
had  come  to  this  country  as  a  prisoner,  and  had  married  a 
woman  who  was  a  native  of  Holland.  The  son,  as  Miihlen- 
berg  says,  was  a  compound  of  the  Spaniard's  pompousness 
and  the  Hollander's  rudeness.  His  six  sons,  sitting 'around 
him  and  smoking  their  pipes,  proved  that  they  were  "  apples 
of  the  same  tree."  He  was  not  willing  to  give  the  strangers 
anything  to  eat,  and  with  high  bearing  commanded  them  to 
betake  themselves  to  the  straw  on  the  floor.  On  the  follow- 
ing day  (Aug.  2ist)  raccoon-flesh  and  pumpkins  were  set 
before  them  at  an  inn,  and  finally,  after  a  ride  of  forty-one 
miles,  they  reached  Kingston  on  the  Hudson,  having  in  five 
days  travelled  two  hundred  miles.  The  heavy  rain  of  the 
day  following  allowed  them  to  rest  and  to  recruit. 

Aug.  23d,  crossing  the  Hudson  in  a  ferry-boat  with  their 
horses,  they  came  to  Rhinebeck,  the  residence  of  Hartwig. 
Their  arrival  caused  much  joy  among  the  old  friends  of 
Weiser,  and  among  all  those  who  entertained  a  good  opin- 
ion of  the  Pennsylvania  pastors.  They  came  to  Hartwig's 
lodgings  to  converse  with  Miihlenberg,  the  long-expected 
visitor,  but  on  account  of  the  continued  bad  condition  of 
his  throat  he  could  not  speak  to  them  as  he  wished.  Hart- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  249 

wig  was  in  good  health,  but  his  congregations  were  in  con- 
siderable agitation  and  confusion.  His  intentions  were  laud- 
able, but  from  the  beginning  of  his  labors  in  that  field  Berken- 
meier,  the  representative  of  the  old  orthodox  and  formalistic 
school  as  opposed  to  the  more  subjective  character  of  the 
Halle  Pietism,  exercised  an  inimical  influence,  since  Hartwig 
had  shown  his  decided  sympathy,  not  with  him,  but  with  the 
Halle  pastors  in  Pennsylvania.  He  laid  stress  upon  profession 
of  the  orthodox  faith  and  the  old  ways  and  forms  of  the 
Church ;  Hartwig  and  the  Halle  pastors  urged  personal 
appropriation  of  the  saving  truth  which  the  Confessions  of 
the  Church  proclaimed.  There  was  in  principle  no  contra- 
diction between  the  two  sides ;  in  practice  the  lines  were 
divergent.  Hartwig  was  inexperienced  in  this  American 
branch  of  Christ's  vineyard,  accustomed  to  a  condition  of 
things  as  they  are  in  Germany,  could  or  would  not  adapt 
himself  in  his  pastoral  practice  to  circumstances  as  he  here 
found  them,  and  was  isolated  from  judicious  counsellors. 
Those  who  are  ever  on  the  alert  to  find  fault  were  also 
here  not  wanting  nor  idle,  and  but  too  prone  to  treat  the 
smallest  mistake  as  a  criminal  act.  Slanderers  were  also 
at  work,  and  the  four  tracts  published  by  Berkenmeier  and 
describing  Hartwig  as  a  Moravian  and  enthusiast  had  made 
their  impression  upon  the  ignorant  and  upon  those  who 
would  not  submit  to  the  gospel  when  seriously  preached 
and  directed  against  their  ungodly  ways  and  habits.  Berk- 
enmeier, not  satisfied  with  having  even  sent  charges  against 
Hartwig  to  the  Rev.  Phil.  David  Kraeuter,  D.  D.,  at  that 
time  pastor  of  the  old  Hamburg  or  Trinity  Church  in  Lon- 
don— who  very  properly  answered  that  before  judging  he 
ought  to  hear  what  the  accused  had  to  say — in  conjunction 
with  the  Rev.  Nicol.  Sommer,  pastor  at  Schoharie,  his  son-in- 
law,  and  the  Rev.  Mich.  Christian  Knoll,  pastor  of  the  Dutch 
Lutheran  congregation  of  New  York,  whom  we  have  already 
met,  held  a  convention  in  one  of  Hartwig's  congregations,  and 
resolved  that,  as  Hartwig  held  Moravian  principles,  he  should 
be  deposed  from  his  office.  This  is  the  same  Berkenmeier 


25O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

who  was  so  scrupulous  about  dealing  with  the  miserable 
Wolf  in  the  Raritan  churches.  To  that  resolution  the  numer- 
ous friends  of  Hartwig,  who  had  been  spiritually  benefited  by 
his  services,  offered  successful  opposition.  It  was  an  unhappy 
circumstance  that  shortly  before  the  visit  of  Miihlenberg  such  a 
worthless  character  as  Carl  Rudolph  had  made  a  visit  to  these 
parts,  and  had  been  allowed  by  the  disaffected  in  one  of  the 
congregations,  called  Camp,  to  enter  the  church,  and  thus  to 
make  the  existing  confusion  still  worse.  This  congregation 
was  therefore  given  up  by  Hartwig.  On  Aug.  24th,  Weiser, 
leaving  Rhinebeck,  was  accompanied  for  a  distance  of  twenty 
miles  by  Hartwig  and  Miihlenberg.  At  the  residence  of  a 
wealthy  landowner,  Livingston,  they  were  well  received,  but 
learned  that  the  Indians,  formerly  allied  to  the  English,  and 
now  to  be  visited  by  Weiser,  had  joined  the  French.  Weiser, 
however,  proceeded  on  his  way.  Aug.  25th  a  number  of  the 
members  of  the  Camp  congregation  requested  Miihlenberg  to 
hold  services  in  their  church  on  the  following  day,  the  eleventh 
Sunday  after  Trinity.  Hartwig  advising  the  acceptance  of  the 
invitation,  as  desirable  results  might  follow,  Miihlenberg  con- 
sented. On  the  following  day,  when  the  service  was  held,  the 
existence  of  two  parties  was  easily  observable.  The  adherents 
of  the  one  entered  the  church,  those  of  the  other  listened  from 
the  outside.  Unfortunately,  Miihlenberg,  still  troubled  with 
hoarseness,  was  obliged  to  make  the  greatest  exertions  to  be 
understood.  Since  Carl  Rudolph  was  the  last  to  officiate  in 
that  church,  he  prayed  God  again  to  purify  this  house  for  his 
honor,  to  reunite  the  dispersed  sheep  of  the  flock,  and  to  for- 
give those  who  had  allowed  that  servant  of  Satan  to  enter 
there.  After  service  some  of  the  aged  officers  of  the  congre- 
gation promised  that  they  would  take  courage,  renew  their 
efforts  for  the  continuation  of  divine  services,  and  assist  as 
much  as  possible,  though  there  were  so  many  opponents 
influenced  by  the  calumnies  of  Berkenmeier.  During  the 
following  week  Miihlenberg  visited  another  congregation, 
called  Tar  Bush,  but  could  collect  but  few  members,  as 
most  of  them  clung  to  Berkenmeier,  and  had,  in  addition, 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  25 1 

been  distracted  by  Carl  Rudolph.  By  the  use  of  strong 
medicine  Miihlenberg  broke  his  catarrh,  and  preached  on 
the  following  Sunday  at  Rhinebeck  before  a  large  assembly. 
There  were  present  some  Dutch  inhabitants  who  rejoiced  that 
on  account  of  Miihlenberg's  pronunciation  of  the  German 
they  were  able  to  understand  the  whole  sermon,  but  there 
was  much  joy  also  among  all  the  people  and  a  pleasing  pros- 
pect of  seeing  the  discordant  parties  again  united.  In  the 
afternoon  Hartwig  preached,  as  Miihlenberg  said,  a  fine  ser- 
mon on  a  part  of  the  Catechism  and  instructed  the  children. 

Sept.  3d  a  general  conference,  to  which  some  of  the  elders 
of  the  four  congregations  under  Hartwig's  care  were  invited, 
and  to  which  all  church-members  had  free  access,  was  held 
at  Rhinebeck.  The  first  topic  discussed  was  the  charges  laid 
by  Berkenmeier  before  the  Rev.  Dr.  Kraeuter  at  London,  who 
had  sent  them  here  to  give  the  accused  opportunity  of  defence. 
It  was  proved  during  the  investigation  that  Hartwig  in  some 
things  had  not  erred  intentionally,  and  more  in  the  manner 
than  in  the  matter,  that  the  facts  had  been  frequently  distorted 
and  exaggerated  by  the  malice  of  enemies,  and  that  if  no  party 
spirit  had  prevailed  no  particular  notice  would  have  been  taken 
of  certain  acts  which  proceeded  from  the  earnest  zeal  of  a 
faithful  pastor.  The  second  topic  was  the  question  whether 
Hartwig  should  resign  and  move  to  Pennsylvania,  or  whether 
he  should  leave  here  for  a  certain  time  and  meanwhile  prepare 
a  printed  defence  to  the  public  against  Berkenmeier's  accusa- 
tions. To  the  first  proposition  many  of  the  right-minded 
members  present  would  not  consent ;  the  second  was  unani- 
mously accepted,  on  condition  that  during  the  absence  of 
Hartwig  a  substitute  should  be  sent  from  Pennsylvania ;  on 
the  third  point  our  sources  are  silent.  The  minutes  of  the 
conference  containing  the  essentials  were  signed  by  the  elders 
present.  Miihlenberg's  personal  efforts  during  the  following 
days  to  mollify  the  aversion  of  some  under  the  sway  of  Ber- 
kenmeier against  Hartwig  were  of  no  avail.  Miihlenberg 
shows  his  sound  and  solid  knowledge  of  the  human  heart 
by  saying,  "  The  shallow  reasons  based  on  the  mistakes  and 


252  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

infirmities  of  Mr.  Hartwig  would  not  have  sufficed  to  give 
their  hatred  the  semblance  of  legitimacy  if  a  power  in  the 
background  had  not  strengthened  their  malicious  passion. 
It  is  a  deplorable  thing  whenever  such  strifes  arise  in  congre- 
gations, since  all  the  members,  almost  without  any  exception, 
are  connected  with  each  other  by  intermarriage,  relationship, 
etc.,  and  the  disaffected  will  not  rest,  but  continue  the  agita- 
tion to  increase  their  influence  and  to  accomplish  their  pur- 
pose. The  pastor's  support,  which  comes  directly  from  the 
individual  members,  is  diminished  in  the  same  ratio  in  which 
the  number  of  the  discontented  increases,  and  the  others  lose 
courage  and  fear  that  the  burden  will  fall  wholly  upon  them. 
In  short,  it  is  under  such  circumstances  easier  to  be  a  cowherd 
or  a  shepherd  in  Germany  than  to  be  a  pastor  here,  where 
every  peasant  acts  the  part  of  a  patron  of  the  parish,  for 
which  he  may  have  neither  the  proper  intelligence  nor  the 
necessary  skill."  Miihlenberg  also  openly  tells  us  why  Hart- 
wig  could  not  fail,  in  spite  of  his  good  intention,  to  give  much 
offence.  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  often  intermarried.  He 
thought  it  a  part  of  his  duties  to  preach  anti-Calvinistic  ser- 
mons ;  one  of  his  predecessors  in  a  Lutheran  charge  on  the 
Hudson,  Justus  Falkner,  had  even  published  a  learned  book 
against  the  Calvinists.  Maintaining,  also,  strictly,  the  rules 
laid  down  in  the  venerable  Lutheran  liturgies,  he  would  not 
accept  members  of  the  Reformed  Church  as  sponsors  for  chil- 
dren of  Lutheran  parents ;  he  also  rejected  grandparents  for 
the  same  office,  since  their  age  would  prevent  the  perform- 
ance of  their  sponsorial  duties  in  case  of  the  prior  death  of 
the  parents.  He  travels  too  frequently  to  Pennsylvania  with- 
out the  consent  of  his  congregations;  he  is  too  scholas- 
tic in  his  instruction  of  the  catechumens,  too  austere  in  his 
intercourse  with  the  people,  often  refuses  them  access,  fre- 
quently appears  no  less  than  two  hours  after  the  appointed 
time  of  public  service,  makes  the  people  sing  too  long,  and 
preaches  too  long,  to  their  great  inconvenience;  he  is  very 
self-willed  and  stubborn  and  unwilling  to  take  advice,  saying 
that  he  had  come  here  not  to  learn,  but  to  teach.  Some  also 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2$$ 

found  fault  with  him  for  not  retaining  the  friendship  of  "old 
Father  Berkenmeier."  Undoubtedly,  some  of  these  things 
convey  serviceable  hints  to  beginners  in  the  pastoral  office. 
Miihlenberg  wisely  adds  that  for  the  pastoral  office  in  this 
country,  for  maintaining  the  proper  relation  between  the  pas- 
tor and  the  people,  and  for  doing  justice  to  both,  there  is  need 
not  only  of  a  measure  of  charity  and  truth,  talent  and  grace, 
but  especially  also  of  a  sanctified  temper. 

Sept.  Qth,  Miihlenberg  held  public  services  in  a  barn  for  a 
congregation  at  Ancram,  about  eighteen  miles  distant  from 
Rhinebeck.  Preaching  German  in  the  morning,  English  in 
the  afternoon,  he  met  there  a  number  of  persons  testifying 
to  the  benefits  they  had  derived  from  Hartwig's  preaching 
and  to  his  Christian  character.  On  the  loth  and  I2th  of 
September,  Miihlenberg  again  preached  at  Camp,  and  on  the 
1 6th  at  Rhinebeck.  At  the  same  time  he  bade  farewell  to 
the  congregations.  During  his  visits  some  of  the  opponents 
of  Hartwig  had  gone  to  see  and  to  report  to  Berkenmeier, 
whose  residence  was  at  Loonenburg  (Athens)  on  the  Hud- 
son. To  their  questions  as  to  what  he  thought  of  Miihlen- 
berg, he  answered  that  he  had  nothing  to  say  against  him  and 
considered  him  a  truly  evangelical  preacher.  It  may  be  prop- 
er to  state  that  at  the  time  Berkenmeier  pursued  his  studies 
in  Germany  many  grave  objections  were  properly  made  to  the 
morbid  religious  manifestations  in  many  of  the  adherents  of 
Pietism ;  impressions  of  such  a  character  may  have  accompa- 
nied Berkenmeier  when,  in  1725,  he  arrived  in  America.  In 
his  opinion,  now  frankly  given,  he  does  no  less  honor  to  him- 
self than  to  Miihlenberg. 

Sept.  1 7th,  Miihlenberg  held  services  in  the  small  congre- 
gation at  Statesbury,  eight  miles  distant  from  Rhinebeck.  On 
the  1 8th  he  and  Hartwig  moved  to  the  house  of  a  member 
of  the  Lutheran  congregation,  situated  on  the  Hudson,  to 
await  the  arrival  of  a  boat  to  take  them  down  the  river.  The 
old  horse  which  had  carried  Muhlenberg  from  Pennsylvania, 
and  had  served  him  for  nearly  seven  years,  he  presented  to  a 
poor  man ;  the  saddle  and  bridle  he  sold.  He  had  reasons  to 


254  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

look  back  with  thankfulness  upon  the  four  weeks  spent  in 
congregations  on  the  Hudson.  It  was  in  no  man's  power 
altogether  to  remove  all  the  difficulties  existing  there,  but 
by  his  preaching  and  conversation  with  individuals,  and  his 
general  happy  intercourse  with  the  people,  he  had  certainly 
contributed  largely  to  the  pacification  of  the  disturbed  minds. 
He  was  far  from  shutting  his  eyes  to  the  shortcomings  and 
errors  of  Hartwig,  but  he  acknowledged  the  good  that  was 
in  him,  his  undeniable  abilities,  his  warm-hearted  piety,  his 
sincere  though  sometimes  injudicious  zeal.  Miihlenberg  had 
acted  a  noble  part  in  defending  against  unjust  partisan  attacks 
a  friend  who-  never  had  made  a  secret  of  his  attachment  to 
the  Pennsylvania  pastors.  It  was  in  harmony  with  this  that 
Pennsylvania  hospitality  was  now  offered  to  Hartwig,  whose 
temporary  absence  from  his  congregations  seemed  advisable 
under  existing  circumstances. 

Sept.  22d,  Miihlenberg  and  Hartwig  reached  Kingston  in 
a  small  boat,  were  kindly  received  by  the  Dutch  Reformed 
pastor  in  the  town,  and  in  the  evening  set  sail  in  a  large  ves- 
sel for  New  York,  ninety  miles  distant.  They  were  favored 
in  having  respectable  companions.  On  Sunday,  the  23d,  they 
held  services,  singing  a  psalm  and  Hartwig  preaching  in  Eng- 
lish. At  four  o'clock  p.  M.  they  arrived  at  New  York,  which 
Miihlenberg  calls  "  the  ancient,  renowned  city." 

New  York — or,  as  during  the  Dutch  government  it  was 
called,  New  Amsterdam — at  that  time,  in  age,  did  not  amount 
to  even  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  Its  renown  also  at  that 
time  was  rather  restricted  to  the  New  World,  unless  it  rests  on 
the  intolerant  Calvinistic  despotism  prevalent  there  until  the 
English  in  1664  conquered  the  town  and  the  province.  In 
1657,  when  the  Lutheran  Consistory  of  Amsterdam,  in  reponse 
to  the  petition  of  the  Lutherans  at  New  Amsterdam  and  at  Al- 
bany— who  also  were  of  Holland — had  sent  to  them  a  pastor, 
Rev.  John  Ernest  Goetwater,  he  was  not  only  prohibited  from 
exercising  the  functions  of  his  office,  but  in  the  very  year  of 
his  arrival  was  even  mercilessly  sent  back  to  Holland.  A  few 
years  later,  however,  the  Lutherans  of  New  Amsterdam  were 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2$$ 

organized  into  a  congregation,  and  in  1671  they  planned  and 
prepared  for  the  erection  of  a  church,  which  was  soon  after 
built  outside  of  the  city  proper,  but  in  1773  was  removed  by 
the  government  for  military  reasons,  another  church  being 
erected  within  the  fortifications.  The  first  pastor  serving  the 
congregations  there  and  at  Albany  was  Jacob  Fabricius,  sent 
by  the  Amsterdam  Lutheran  Consistory  in  1668.  When,  in 
consequence  of  his  offensive  habits  and  manners,  he  was  after 
some  years  deposed  from  his  office  by  the  governor  of  the 
province,  he  was  in  1677  elected  pastor  of  Wicaco  congrega- 
tion at  Philadelphia,  proved  in  this  position  respectable  and 
acceptable,  and  served,  as  occasion  was  given,  Swedish  and 
Dutch  settlers  as  far  as  the  Maryland  frontiers,  though  for 
nine  years  before  his  death — which  occurred,  most  probably, 
in  1693 — he  was  blind. 

His  first  successor —  possibly,  for  a  time,  colaborer — in  New 
York  was  Bernhard  Antony  Arens,  who  was  ordained  by 
Fabricius,  and  most  probably  served  the  Lutherans  there  to 
the  end  of  the  century,  and  during  the  latter  period  of  his  life 
also  at  Albany ;  his  second  one  for  a  short  time  in  the  years 
1701  and  1702  was  Andrew  Rudman,  who,  having  served  the 
Swedish  Lutherans  in  Philadelphia  from  1697,  intended  in 
1701  or  1702  to  return  to  his  native  country,  Sweden,  but  in 
consequence  of  the  solicitations  of  the  New  York  Lutherans 
remained  at  New  York,  and  before  returning,  on  account  of 
his  sickly  condition,  to  Philadelphia  (in  the  neighborhood  of 
which  he  died  in  1708),  succeeded  in  finding  a  successor  of 
excellent  character  and  ability,  the  Rev.  Justus  Falkner,  whom 
we  met  at  New  Hanover  in  Pennsylvania  as  pastor  of  the  first 
German  Lutheran  congregation  on  this  continent.  He  served, 
in  addition  to  the  New  York  congregations,  those  at  Albany, 
Loonenburg,  Hackensack,  and  probably  the  German  Luther- 
ans on  the  Raritan;  also,  when,  in  1708-10,  the  Palatines  set- 
tled on  the  Hudson,  Joshua  Kocherthal's  congregations  during 
this  pastor's  voyage  to  England  in  1710.  When  Falkner  re- 
tired, about  1723,  Berkenmeier,  recommended  by  the  clergy 
of  Hamburg  and  examined  and  ordained  by  the  Amsterdam 


256  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Consistory,  arrived  at  New  York  as  his  successor  in  1725. 
In  the  interval  John  Bernh.  van  Dieren,  the  pretender  to  the 
pastoral  office  who  from  1717  had  officiated  at  Schoharie  and 
in  congregations  on  the  Hudson,  now  also,  but  without  effect, 
tried  to  gain  influence  at  New  York,  but  was  soon  driven  off 
the  field,  and  then  for  a  long  time  disturbed  congregations  in 
New  Jersey.  Berkenmeier  served,  in  addition  to  New  York, 
Albany,  Loonenburg,  Newburg,  and  West  Camp,  and  from 
time  to  time  visited  other  congregations,  preaching  in  Dutch 
and  in  German.  The  field  of  labor  at  New  York,  Hackensack; 
Remmerspach,  and  Newburg  after  Berkenmeier,  in  1731, 
retired  to  the  Upper  Hudson,  was  in  1732  and  following  years 
served  by  Rev.  Michael  Christian  Knoll  with  indifferent  suc- 
cess. During  his  time  German  Lutherans  settling  in  New 
York  City  knocked  at  the  door  of  the  old  Dutch  congrega- 
tion, which  under  Berkenmeier  had  erected  a  new  stone 
church.  With  the  permission  to  have  every  third,  then  every 
second,  Sunday  service  in  the  German  language,  they  were 
after  the  lapse  of  some  time  dissatisfied,  and  finally,  in  1745, 
separated  from  it  under  the  leadership  of  J.  L.  Hofgut,  who 
had  been  deposed  in  Wiirtemberg  from  the  clerical  office, 
and  was  also  here  forbidden  by  the  government  to  exercise 
clerical  functions.  For  a  short  time  he  was  succeeded  by  the 
worthless  Carl  Rudolph,  ever  present  when  he  scented  from 
afar  an  occasion  to  fall  upon  prey.  In  1750,  having  found  the 
Rev.  John  Fred.  Riess — who  in  September,  1749,  had  arrived 
at  Philadelphia,  and  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  Miihlen- 
berg  and  Brunnholtz  without  attaching  himself  to  them — the 
New  York  German  Lutherans  gave  him,  in  August,  1750,  a 
regular  call,  having  also,  though  thereby  burdening  them- 
selves with  a  heavy  debt,  bought  a  brewery  and  changed  it 
into  a  house  of  worship.  There  were  then  a  new  German 
congregation  at  New  York — unfortunately  consisting  to  a 
large  extent  of  very  unspiritual  elements — and  also  the  old 
Dutch  church,  very  much  reduced  in  numbers  in  consequence 
of  the  cessation  of  immigration  from  the  mother-country,  but 
consisting  of  highly-respected  material,  the  younger  portion 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  2$? 

of  which,  however,  had  a  significant  leaning  toward  the  Eng- 
lish language. 

These  were  the  circumstances,  given  in  general  outline, 
under  which,  in  September,  1750,  Miihlenberg,  visited  the 
Lutherans  at  New  York.  Not  a  word  has  he  written  in  his 
diary  of  the  romantic  beauty  of  the  river  whose  waters  had 
carried  him  down  to  one  of  the  largest  and  safest  harbors  of 
the  globe,  but  in  the  condition  of  those  who  belonged  with 
him  to  the  same  household  of  faith  he  took  a  deep  interest. 
Though  knowing  that  under  the  dissensions  then  existing 
among  them  his  visit  would  not  be  free  from  embarrassment, 
he  considered  it  his  duty  to  mediate  between  the  parties  there 
arrayed  against  each  other. 

Sept.  24th,  Miihlenberg,  in  company  with  Hartwig,  paid  his 
respects  to  Riess,  with  whom  he  had  become  acquainted  in 
Philadelphia.  Riess  gladly  received  his  visitors,  sent  for 
some  of  the  officers  of  his  flock,  and  requested  Miihlenberg 
to  preach  in  his  pulpit  the  following  Sunday.  In  refusing  to 
do  so  Miihlenberg  reminded  Riess  of  the  advice  given  him 
in  Philadelphia,  not  to  become  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  the  dis- 
satisfied in  the  old  congregation  while  the  legitimate  pastor, 
Knoll,  still  held  his  position.  Riess  admitted  that  in  his  con- 
gregation two  men  of  low  character  wielded  the  power.  He 
expected,  however,  to  bring  things  to  a  successful  issue  by 
collecting  money,  for  which  purpose  the  governor  of  the 
province  had  given  permission.  The  result  was  that  a  year 
later  Riess  left  in  disgust.  His  adherents  testified  to  their 
own  despicable  character  by  calling  the  notorious  Andreae 
from  Pennsylvania,  and,  after  his  refusal  to  come,  one  of  his 
followers  and  creatures,  Ph.  H.  Rapp,  an  unprincipled  in- 
truder into  the  pastoral  office,  who  scrupled  at  nothing 
to  injure  the  old  Dutch  congregation  and  to  disconnect 
from  it  all  its  German  members.  In  later  years  Riess  faith- 
fully served  congregations  on  the  Upper  Hudson  and  in  the 
Mohawk  Valley,  maintained  friendly  relations  with  the  united 
pastors  of  Pennsylvania,  and  died  in  1791  at  Churchtown, 
N.  Y.  Rapp  at  the  end  of  1753  was  called  to  the  German- 
17 


LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

town  congregation,  served  up  to  that  time  by  Andreae,  who, 
Jan.  i,  1754,  came  to  a  miserable  end.  Deposed  from  the 
office  in  1765,  Rapp  found  adherents  in  the  Tohicon  congre- 
gation, Bucks  county,  Pa.,  lost  his  position  there  in  1771,  may 
afterward  have  found  some  support  in  Macungie  and  neigh- 
boring localities,  where  in  former  years  he  had  served,  and  in 
1779  ended  his  shocking  career  by  committing  suicide. 

Sept.  25th,  Miihlenberg  visited  some  of  the  officers  of  the 
old  Dutch  congregation,  who  in  their  church  troubles  had 
several  times  addressed  themselves  to  the  Pennsylvania  pas- 
tors, and  now  requested  him  on  the  coming  Sunday  to  preach 
in  their  church.  To  this  he  consented.  On  the  succeeding 
day  he  paid  his  respects  to  J.  M.  Magens,  Esq.,  at  Flushing, 
seventeen  miles  from  New  York,  like  other  individuals  of  that 
name,  and  probably  of  the  same  family  located  in  divers 
places,  a  faithful  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  Some  of 
them  were  in  high  official  positions  in  the  Danish  West  Indies. 
A  Mrs.  Magens  had  assisted  the  building  of  Trinity  Lutheran 
Church  in  London  in  1673  with  the  liberal  gift  of  five  hun- 
dred pounds.  J.  M.  Magens,  having  learned  that  Hartwig 
was  exposed  to  unjust  persecution,  had  given  him  a  call  as 
chaplain  to  his  family;  which  was,  however,  not  accepted. 
Magens  received  and  treated  his  guests  with  much  kindness. 
Hartwig  led  the  devotional  exercises  of  the  family  every  even- 
ing. Having  (Sept.  29th)  returned  to  the  city,  Miihlenberg  and 
Hartwig  learned  that  Berkenmeier,  whose  presence  and  advice 
some  of  the  church-officers  had,  at  the  resignation  of  Knoll, 
requested,  had  arrived.  Miihlenberg  at  once  went  to  pay  his 
respects  to  him,  and  was  very  politely  received.  It  was,  as 
far  as  we  know,  the  only  time  that  these  representatives  of 
two  different  theological  schools — the  orthodox,  standing  on 
fides,  qua  creditur,  over  against  the  Pietist's  fides,  qua  crcditur 
— ever  met.  The  offer  of  Muhlenberg  not  to  preach  on  the 
following  Sunday,  as  was  appointed,  unless  Berkenmeier  gave 
his  consent,  was  not  accepted,  though  Berkenmeier  said  that 
for  certain  reasons  he  would  not  be  present.  Of  the  conver- 
sation, continued  for  some  time,  Muhlenberg  has  unfortunately 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2$$ 

left  us  no  record.  Sept.  3Oth,  Miihlenberg,  not  yet  venturing 
upon;the  Dutch  language,  preached  in  the  morning  in  Ger- 
man ;  in  the  afternoon  in  English.  The  words  he  enters  in 
his  diary  prove  how  much  he  took  to  heart  the  condition  of 
that  congregation  and  of  all  Lutheranism  in  New  York.  "  It 
is  a  distressing  condition  of  things,"  he  says.  "  There  is  a 
fine,  well-built  church  in  a  good  locality  in  the  city;  they 
have  four  hundred  pounds  at  interest,  and  there 'is  a  comfort- 
able parsonage*  A  pastor  could  receive  one-third  of  the  nec- 
essary salary  from  the  interest,  and  would  have  a  privileged 
locality  in  which  the  gospel  according  to  the  Augsburg  Con- 
fession might  be  preached  in  German,  Dutch,  and  English; 
but  now  it  seems  as  if  the  end  were  not  far  off.  There  are  no 
children,  there  is  no  help,  and  laughing  heirs  are  waiting  for 
the  dying  moment."  Berkenmeier's  advice  to  the  officers  of 
the  congregation  was  to  recall  Knoll  or  to  get  a  pastor  from 
beyond  the  Atlantic.  Gloomy  were  Berkenmeier's  views  of 
the  future.  At  another  visit,  toward  the  end  of  the  year, 
prophesying  that  ravenous  wolves  would  after  his  departure 
break  into  the  sheepfold,  he  left  New  York  for  ever  for  his 
home  at  Loonenburg,  where  he  died  a  year  later  at  the  age 
of  sixty-nine. 

Miihlenberg  and  Hartwig  on  Monday,  Oct.  1st,  bade  fare- 
well to  New  York.  At  New  Brunswick  they  were  hospitably 
entertained  by  Rev.  Arthur,  a  Presbyterian  pastor,  who  soon 
afterward  was  taken  away  in  the  prime  of  life.  Hartwig  pro- 
ceeded to  Philadelphia ;  Miihlenberg,  to  the  Raritan  congre- 
gations, where  (Oct.  4th)  he  found  Weygand  in  a  satisfactory 
condition;  met  also  Weygand's  father-in-law,  Van  Dieren. 
On  Oct.  /th  he  was  again  in  the  midst  of  his  family  at 
Providence. 

A  short  time  afterward  Catechist  Raus,  furnished  with  strict 
instructions  as  'to  his  conduct,  was  despatched  to  Hartwig's 
congregations  on  the  Hudson.  Hartwig  was  during  the  ensu- 
ing six  months  to  assist  Brunnholtz  in  Philadelphia  and  Ger- 
mantown,  and  to  perform  services  in  the  congregations  of  Old 
Goshenhoppen  and  Indianfield,  which  at  last  had  dismissed 


26O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Andrese.  We  know  that  toward  the  end  of  November, 
Brunnholtz,  Handschuh,  Hartwig,  Kurtz,  and  Schaum  met 
at  Providence,  and  from  there  travelled  to  the  Raritan  con- 
gregations to  dedicate  the  new  church,  to  ordain  Weygand, 
and  to  marry  Schaum  to  the  daughter  of  Elder  Pickel. 
Schaum  had  the  misfortune  during  the  journey,  by  sleeping 
on  the  bare  floor,  to  catch  a  heavy  cold,  which,  settling  in 
his  hip,  was  exceedingly  painful  and  disabled  him  for  a  num- 
ber of  months.  His  wife  and  the  child  she  had  just  borne 
him  he  lost  through  death  in  May,  1752. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  261 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

1748  et  seq.  (continued}. 

The  Dutch  Lutherans  of  New  York  give  a  call  to  Miihlenberg.— Difficulties. — 
Importance  of  the  case. — Pastoral  conference  at  Tulpehoken. — Handschuh  to 
be  transferred  to  Germantown ;  Miihlenberg  to  spend  a  limited  time  at  New 
York. — He  again  visits  Upper  Milford  and  other  congregations  then  served 
by  Catechist  Schrenk. — Synodical  meeting  at  Philadelphia,  1751. — Muhlen- 
berg,  accompanied  by  Hartwig,  sets  out  for  New  York. — Pastoral  work  there ; 
preaches  in  the  Dutch  language. — Pays  his  respects  to  some  of  the  clergy  of 
the  city. — Visits  the  Dutch  Lutherans  at  Hackensack,  N.  J. — Lawrence  van 
Buskirk. — Rev.  J.  Fr.  Riess. — Relation  between  the  Dutch  and  the  German 
congregation  at  New  York. — Rev.  Eb.  Pemberton,  D.  D. — Miihlenberg  re- 
turns to  Providence. 
# 

THE  officers  of  the  old  Lutheran  congregation  in  New 
York  were  in  no  manner  relieved  by  Berkenmeier's  final 
admonition.  They  could  not  recall  Knoll,  neither  would  they 
call  a  pastor  from  Europe.  They  resolved  to  invite  Riess  and 
his  adherents  to  a  conference,  and  to  lay  before  them  the  ques- 
tion whether  they  were  willing  unitedly  to  call  Miihlenberg  as 
pastor  to  serve  in  Dutch,  German,  and  English.  To  this  the 
other  party  defiantly  answered  that  their  pastor,  Riess,  would 
have  to  be  acknowledged  as  the  pastor  of  the  whole  united 
congregation — a  proposition  to  which  the  other  party  could 
not  consent,  for  various  and  decisive  reasons. 

A  letter  written  in  the  Dutch  language,  dated  Nov.  8,  1750, 
and  signed  by  nine  members — among  them  J.  M.  Magens — 
of  the  old  congregation,  and  probably  representing  also,  in  an 
informal  manner,  the  vestry,  allowed  Miihlenberg  to  see  the 
drift  of  the  sentiments  prevailing  there  and  the  direction 
they  took  in  regard  to  him.  The  writers  say  that  the  pres- 
ent vacancy  in  their  congregation  cannot  be  tolerated  any 
longer;  that  they  need  a  faithful  pastor  to  prevent  its  total 


262  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

destruction,  a  man — yea,  a  father — who  would  be  able,  "  as  a 
hen  gathereth  her  chickens  under  her  wings,"  to  gather  the 
scattered  members  again  under  the  wings  of  our  pure  evan- 
gelical doctrine ;  that  after  long  meditation  they  had  arrived 
at  the  conviction  that  Miihlenberg  was  the  man  to  help  them 
in  their  distress ;  that  they  were  convinced  he  would  take  to 
heart  the  building  up  of  the  Church  and  do  all  for  the  glory 
of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls,  and  accomplish  what  would 
prove  a  blessing  not  only  to  the  present  generation,  but  to 
posterity,  to  guard  souls  against  erring  from  pure  doctrine ; 
that  he  certainly  could  not  refuse  to  come  to  them — at  least 
for  one,  two,  or  three  years,  or  as  long  as  might  please  him  to 
care  for  them — to  the  end  that  the  estranged  members  might 
be  regained  and  finally  a  faithful  assistant  secured.  They  con- 
sidered it  necessary,  owing  to  the  precarious  condition  of  their 
congregation,  that  Miihlenberg  should  hasten  to  come — the 
sooner  the  better.  The  entreating  tone  of  this  letter  clearly 
demonstrates  that  Miihlenberg  had  at  his^isit  among  them 
won  golden  opinions,  and  that  all  their  hopes  centred  on  him. 
Dec.  3,  1750,  he  answered  in  a  very  modest  manner,  thanking 
them  for  the  confidence  bestowed  upon  him,  but  saying  that 
they  ought  to  consider  that  they  were  assigning  him  an  ex- 
ceedingly difficult  task :  he  refers  to  the  condition  of  the  Lu- 
theran Church  in  the  whole  province  of  New  York,  the  dif- 
ficulty of  bringing  about  an  amelioration,  and  the  obligations 
he  was  under  with  respect  to  his  present  field  of  labor,  his 
brethren,  and  his  family.  Willing  as  he  was  to  make  a  sac- 
rifice, he  would  have  to  be  assured  that  his  present  congrega- 
tions would  not  be  left  a  prey  to  the  wolves,  but  be  placed  in 
good,  trustworthy  hands ;  would  have  to  receive  permission 
from  the  Fathers  in  Europe  for  such  a  change ;  would  claim 
the  liberty  to  be  present  at  the  yearly  meetings  of  the  synod 
in  Pennsylvania,  and  as  a  missionary  to  visit  forsaken  congre- 
gations in  the  province  of  New  York ;  would  in  the  begin- 
ning preach  only  in  German  and  English ;  and  would  decide 
the  whole  question  after  having  received  a  regular  call  from 
them. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  263 

It  cannot  escape  our  observation  that  Miihlenberg,  though 
realizing  his  responsibility,  was  not  averse  to  making  a  change 
and  to  undertaking  a  new  task  unexpectedly  presented  by  the 
invitation  from  New  York.  He  not  only  felt  that  in  that  city 
of-rapidly-growing  social  and  commercial  importance  Luther- 
anism,  if  properly  represented,  would  have  a  promising  future, 
but  his  reflections  on  the  condition  of  the  Lutheran  congrega- 
tions as  it  then  was  in  Pennsylvania  allowed  him  to  think  that 
a  limited  absence  from  the  old  field  of  labor  would  not  be  con- 
nected with  disastrous  consequences.  His  external  circum- 
stances also  seemed  to  make  a  change  desirable.  Brunnholtz, 
as  he  tells  us,  was  then  in  a  more  healthy  and  vigorous  state ; 
there  was  a  probability  that  soon  a  new  colaborer  might  be 
sent  from  Halle ;  Kurtz  was  at  work  at  Tulpehoken ;  Schaum, 
though  painfully  suffering  for  a  number  of  months,  at  York ; 
Weygand,  on  the  Raritan ;  Hartwig,  though  the  people  com- 
plained of  his  austerity  and  severity  in  discipline  and  preach- 
ing, was  just  then  active  at  Old  Goshenhoppen  and  Indian- 
field  ;  Handschuh  was  at  his  post  at  Lancaster,  though  under 
considerable  disadvantage.  His  own  congregations  gave 
Miihlenberg  some  cause  of  dissatisfaction.  Those  members 
who  at  first  had  given  their  signatures  to  his  support  had  in 
part  died,  in  part  moved  away,  and  he  felt  that  his  just  claims 
were  neglected ;  his  family  was  increasing,  and  at  the  end  of 
year  he  was  to  some  extent  in  debt.  He  thought  a  young 
beginner  might  readily  continue  the  work  where  with  very 
arduous  labor  he  had  at  first  broken  the  ground.  In  New 
Hanover  the  school  was  in  a  good  condition  under  a  faithful 
teacher,  Michael  Walter,  successor  of  J.  J.  Loeser.  In  Prov- 
idence, where  a  new  school-house  had  been  erected  during 
1750,  the  parochial  teacher  and  his  family  were  a  cause  of 
considerable  offence.  On  the  west  side  of  the  Schuylkill 
Lutherans  and  Reformed  had  united  to  erect  a  school-house, 
which  was  alternately  used  by  each  party  for  divine  ser- 
vices. 

A  regular  call,  dated  Feb.  I,  1751,  sent  to  Miihlenberg  by 
the  vestry  of  the  Dutch  Lutheran  congregation  of  New  York, 


264  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

necessitated  a  final  decision.  It  was  found  advisable  to  hold 
a  pastoral  conference,  and  to  discuss  not  only  Miihlenberg's 
call  to  New  York,  but  also  Handschuh's  situation  at  Lancas- 
ter, and  other  topics  connected  with  these  problems.  March 
2Oth,  Miihlenberg,  Brunnholtz,  and  Hartwig  arrived  at  Read- 
ing, a  few  years  before  laid  out  as  a  town  and  promising  prog- 
ress. Here  they  met  Tob.  Wagner  and  conversed  with  him. 
Weiser  had  already  selected  here  a  lot  of  ground  for  a  Lu- 
theran church,  to  be  erected  as  soon  as  circumstances  would 
allow.  The  following  day  the  travellers  arrived  at  Tulpeho- 
ken,  and  on  March  22d  for  bodily  exercise  they,  with  some  of 
the  friends,  ascended  the  highest  point  of  the  South  Moun- 
tain, three  miles  distant  from  Weiser's  residence,  where  a 
splendid  panorama  for  a  distance  of  thirty  miles  extended 
before  them,  limited  to  the  west  and  the  south-west  by  the 
Blue  Mountain  chain.  The  sun  was  shining,  the  sky  was 
clear.  Large  rocks  formed  a  protection  against  the  March 
winds.  Three  eagles,  probably  having  their  nests  in  the 
lonely  neighborhood,  wheeled  in  circles  above  the  heads 
of  the  strange  visitors,  rising  higher  and  higher  in  the 
air  until  in  the  golden  hues  of  the  sunbeams  they  finally 
disappeared.  This  beautiful  picture  brought  strange  feel- 
ings to  the  hearts  of  the  brethren,  for  it  recalled  to  them 
the  symbolic  picture  of  the  eagle  couching  in  front  of  the 
widespreading  golden  rays  of  the  sun  on  the  Orphan-House 
at  Halle.  Many  a  Bible  quotation  having  more  or  less  bear- 
ing upon  the  occasion  and  the  surroundings  was  then  given, 
and  some  old  German  church-hymns  were  intoned  on  this 
lofty  height  and  carried  the  praises  of  God  to  his  throne. 
They  all  felt  it  was  good  to  be  there.  Unwillingly  they  left 
their  grand  elevation  to  climb  down  again  into  the  valley  over 
rock  and  precipices,  and  to  resume  the  cares  and  troubles  of 
a  world  of  labor.  Toward  evening  Handschuh  arrived  and 
began  a  chapter  of  lamentations.  He  wished  to  leave  Lan- 
caster, and,  as  Miihlenberg  somewhat  ironically  said,  to  "  sit 
with  Jonah  on  the  side  of  the  city,  and  there  to  wait  till  he 
might  see  what,  after  forty  days,  would  become  of  it."  It 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  26$ 

was  understood  that  Handschuh  could  no  longer,  with  any 
advantage  to  himself  and  the  congregation,  remain  at  Lan- 
caster. After  long  deliberations  on  various  propositions  it 
was  finally  deemed  advisable  to  transfer  him  to  the  congre- 
gation at  Germantown.  Of  this  we  shall  give  an  account 
hereafter. 

The  views  of  the  brethren  concerning  Muhlenberg's  call 
to  New  York  we  can  best  gather  from  the  answers  he  sent 
thither,  wherein  he  says  he  had  communicated  the  call  to 
his  congregations  and  brethren  of  the  ministry.  He  states 
that  his  intended  removal  created  much  uneasiness  among 
the  well-disposed  members  of  the  congregations,  and  occa- 
sioned many  speculations  and  reflections  among  the  sects 
and  parties  by  which  the  Lutherans  were  surrounded.  That 
uneasiness,  he  says,  proceeds  not  from  want  of  love  toward 
the  brethren  at  New  York,  but  from  an  unwillingness  to  part 
with  him  with  whom  they  had  been  living  in  the  bonds  of 
faith  and  love  for  nine  years.  The  evil  talk  of  outsiders  who 
suspect  bad,  selfish  motives  in  this  proposed  change  he  regards 
not,  and  refers  to  2  Cor.  vi.  7-9.  All  the  circumstances  in- 
duced him  to  accept  of  the  call  only  for  a  part  of  the  time 
fixed  in  it.  During  this  period  the  necessities  of  New  York 
and  of  Pennsylvania  will  be  brought  to  light.  His  family  he 
will  leave  at  Providence,  especially  to  serve  as  a  pledge  to  his 
beloved  congregations.  Possibly  he  might  meet  with  a  prop- 
er person  who  could  be  an  assistant  in  teaching  the  young 
who  might  need  instruction,  provided  the  vestry  would 
grant  the  parsonage  for  this  purpose.  He  intended  to  leave 
Providence  on  May  I3th  and  preach  his  inaugural  sermon 
on  Ascension  Day  (May  1 6th) ;  wherein,  however,  he  did  not 
succeed. 

During  April,  Miihlenberg  made  another  tour  through 
Indianfield,  Birkensee,  and  the  other  congregations  then 
served  by  Schrenk,  as  far  as  the  Forks,  where  he  preached  also 
in  English,  and  returned  by  the  way  of  Saccum  and  Old  Go- 
shenhoppen.  From  this  and  neighboring  congregations  Hart- 
wig  now  intended  to  return  to  the  field  on  the  Hudson,  whence 


266  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

Raus  was  called, back  to  act  as  catechist  in  the  congregations 
made  vacant  by  Hartwig's  departure. 

When  Miihlenberg  bade  farewell  to  his  congregations,  their 
great  emotion  proved  their  strong  attachment  to  him.  On  May 
9th  he  was  at  Philadelphia,  and  on  the  loth  had  a  long  con- 
versation with  Provost  Acrelius  on  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of 
Pennsylvania.  It  had  appeared  advisable  to  hold  a  synodical 
meeting  antecedent  to  Miihlenberg's  departure  for  New  York. 
Sunday,  May  I2th,  Hartwig  solemnly  dedicated  the  organ 
which  had  recently  been  ordered  for  St.  Michael's  Church 
from  Heilbronn,  now  belonging  to  the  kingdom  of  Wiirtem- 
berg.  At  the  business-meeting  Tobias  Wagner,  whom  Miihl- 
enberg invited  in  a  letter  still  preserved  to  us,  was  present. 
May  I4th  Miihlenberg  left  Philadelphia,  accompanied  by  Hart- 
wig,  and  after  a  tedious  voyage  by  water  and  journey  by  land,  ag- 
gravated by  the  disgusting  harangues  of  a  fellow-traveller  with 
whom  Hartwig  fell  into  an  altercation,  they  finally  (May  i/th) 
arrived  at  the  house  of  a  member  of  the  vestry  at  New  York, 
and  on  the  i8th  moved  into  the  parsonage,  where  Miihlenberg, 
provided  with  the  least  possible  furniture,  began  to  live  like  a 
hermit. 

May  1 9th,  Miihlenberg  preached  in  German  in  the  morn- 
ing and  afternoon.  The  vestry  would  not  allow  Hartwig  to 
preach  in  their  church  on  account  of  his  feud  with  Berken- 
meier,  which  proves  the  respect  they  still  had  for  their  former 
pastor  and  counsellor.  Riess  had  advised  his  party  to  unite 
with  the  old  congregation,  but,  their  unreasonable  demands 
being  rejected,  they  now  thought  Miihlenberg  might  sepa- 
rately serve  both  congregations. 

Miihlenberg  found  pastoral  work  enough  among  his  new 
flock.  There  were  in  it  natives  of  Holland  and  of  Germany, 
who  in  singing  the  praises  of  God  at  public  worship  com- 
mingled their  voices  and  melodies  in  a  manner  terribly  grat- 
ing to  the  musical  ear  of  Miihlenberg.  On  the  other  hand, 
his  preaching  a  warm-hearted,  living  Christian  piety  fell 
strongly  upon  souls  too  much  given  to  self-sufficiency  and 
self-righteousness  and  thinking  that  an  outward  performance 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUJ1LENBERG.  267 

of  devotional  acts  and  a  respectable,  inoffensive  course  of 
conduct  were  all  that  the  gospel  required.  Other  members 
at  once  gave  evidence  of  their  appreciation  of  the  truths  pro- 
claimed by  the  new  preacher.  The  German  hearers  delighted 
in  his  clear  voice  and  pronunciation;  the  attendants  at  the 
Episcopal  church,  which  was  in  close  proximity,  complained 
that  that  clear  voice  interfered  with  their  edification. 

Without  further  delay  Miihlenberg  as  "  praeses  "  of  synod 
— which  office  he  held  for  many  years,  and  which  during  the 
official  terms  had  connected  with  it  an  extensive  and  laborious 
correspondence — requested  Raus's  return  from  the  Hudson, 
and  in  agreement  with  the  resolution  synod  gave  him  a  call 
as  catechist  to  labor  in  the  congregations  of  Indianfield,  Go- 
shenhoppen,  and  Birkensee,  as  we  formerly  mentioned.  Mlihl- 
enberg's  time  was  much  taken  up  with  the  visits  he  received 
and  made.  A  small  boy  prepared  breakfast  for  him  at  the 
parsonage ;  his  dinner  and  his  night's  rest  he  found  with  some 
one  of  the  vestrymeti. 

May  2  ist,  Hartwig  started  to  return  to  the  Upper  Hudson. 
May  26th,  Miihlenberg  preached  in  the  morning  in  English, 
in  the  afternoon  in  Dutch,  which  was  his  first  effort  in  this 
language ;  this  affords  another  proof  of  his  uncommon  lin- 
guistic ability.  He  also  says  that  he  now  was  obliged  to  be 
more  careful  in  the  use  of  the  English,  as  in  the  city  the  ears 
of  the  people  are  more  refined  than  in  the  country.  He  very 
much  felt  the  want  of  a  large  English  quarto  Bible,  which, 
thus  far,  his  means  had  not  allowed  him  to  buy,  while  his 
weak  eyes  demanded  a  large  print.  In  March,  1754,  he  com- 
plains in  a  letter  that  in  open,  clear  daylight  he  has  had  to  use 
spectacles,  and  states  in  another  letter  (of  Nov.  23,  1751)  to 
Rev.  J.  M.  Boltzius  at  Ebenezer,  Ga.,  that  without  spectacles  he 
could  hardly  read  or  write.  He  was  then  just  past  the  fortieth 
year  of  his  age.  The  preparation  of  his  sermons  in  those  for- 
eign languages  gave  him  much  trouble,  and  he  diligently  gath- 
ered quotations  from  the  Bible  and  words  from  the  dictionary. 
On  the  above-mentioned  Sunday  (May  26th) — Whitsunday — 
the  attendance  at  church  had  increased.  He  sorely  felt  the 


268  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

want  of  a  proper  book  containing  the  formularies  for  prayers 
and  ritual  acts.  He  made  a  collection  of  prayers  and  other 
forms  as  well  as  he  could  from  various  sources,  conforming 
them  as  much  as  possible  to  the  customs  of  the  Dutch  and  the 
Germans.  As  these  prayers  had  not  yet  been  translated  into 
the  English,  he  had  used  parts  of  the  Episcopal  Book  of  Com- 
mon Prayer — a  fact  which  did  not  escape  the  ear  of  one  of 
his  vestrymen.  The  praises  of  his  fluency  in  the  English  and 
of  his  good  pronunciation  of  the  Dutch  were  compliments 
which  made  no  impression  upon  him  after  the  services  of  the 
day.  Preaching  on  Whit  Monday  in  the  German,  he  felt  that 
he  more  effectually  reached  the  hearts  of  his  hearers,  whose 
great  lack  of  knowledge  in  the  fundamentals  of  religion  had 
not  escaped  his  observation  and  moved  him  to  address  them 
in  the  very  plainest  manner.  In  the  afternoon  of  that  day 
Captain  C.  R.  Hartel,  a  good,  faithful  church-member,  one  of 
the  signers  of  the  call  sent  to  Providence,  took  Muhlenberg  in 
a  carriage  to  the  country-seat  of  his  brother-in-law,  whose  wife 
was  also  a  member  of  the  congregation.  Muhlenberg,  having 
been  accustomed  for  years  to  a  life  in  the  open  air,  severely 
felt,  amid  the  walls  and  houses  of  New  York,  the  unavoidable 
change  of  surroundings,  and  says  that  as  soon  as  he  had  the 
city  behind  him  he  felt  as  though  transported  into  paradise. 
May  28th,  at  the  first  meeting  of  the  vestry  which  he  attended, 
after  opening  with  prayer  he  showed  his  credentials;  and 
when  he  had  signed  the  rules  of  the  congregation,  they 
opened  for  his  inspection  their  chests  and  account-books, 
which  all  appeared  to  be  in  regular  form ;  and  they  paid  him 
four  pounds  for  his  travelling  expenses,  with  which  he  repaid 
Mr.  Schleydorn  of  Philadelphia,  who  had  loaned  him  the 
money.  They  also  prepaid  him  a  quarter's  salary,  which 
sum — about  twenty  pounds — was,  however,  spent  in  buying 
necessary  clothing  and  furniture,  "  before,"  as  he  says,  "  it 
was  earned."  It  was  resolved  at  that  vestry  meeting  that 
every  Sunday  one  sermon  was  to  be  delivered  in  Dutch,  the 
other  in  German. 

Muhlenberg,  being  informed  that  pastors  serving  in  the  city 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  269 

were  expected  to  pay  their  respects  to  the  supreme  "judge" 
of  the  province,  thought  it  proper  not  to  depart  from  the  time- 
honored  custom,  and  went  to  the  summer  residence  of  that 
gentleman,  outside  of  the  city.  The  judge  had  some  infor- 
mation about  the  newly-organized  German  Lutheran  congre- 
gation, and  had  now  an  opportunity  of  receiving  more  light 
on  the  condition  of  Lutheranism  in  New  York.  Inspecting 
the  credentials  of  Miihlenberg,  he  asked  many  questions  con- 
cerning his  life  and  his  present  situation.  Seeing  in  his  call 
to  New  York  that  Miihlenberg  was  expected  to  preach  also 
in  English,  he  approved  of  this,  saying  that  in  a  few  years  all 
foreign  languages  would  die  out  and  the  English  would  have 
sole  possession,  as  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  the  youth 
of  all  nations,  soon  forgetting  their  mother-tongue,  learned 
the  English.  What  would  this  high  magistrate  have  thought 
if  any  one  had  assured  him  that  one  hundred  and  thirty  years 
later  there  would  be  in  that  same  city  more  than  three  hun- 
dred thousand  Germans  and  an  indefinite  number  of  French, 
Italians,  Bohemians,  Scandinavians,  and  others  ?  The  judge 
inquired  after  Miihlenberg's  family,  and,  learning  of  his  near 
relationship  to  Weiser,  said  that  he  knew  Weiser  personally 
as  an  honest  and  a  useful  man,  advised  Miihlenberg  to  pay 
his  respects  also  to  the  governor,  and  told  him  that  the  Mo- 
ravians had  received  permission  to  erect  a  church.  He  then 
refreshed  his  visitor  with  a  cooling  drink  and  sent  him  back 
to  the  city  in  his  own  carriage. 

Miihlenberg  thought  it  proper  to  present  himself  before  the 
leading  pastors  of  various  denominations,  knowing  that  this 
would  increase  his  knowledge  of  the  general  condition  of 
Christ's  kingdom  in  this  part  of  the  world.  He  was  opposed 
to  denominational  unionism,  and  on  all  occasions  acted  accord- 
ingly, but  personal  and  respectful  friendship  between  repre- 
sentatives of  various  confessions  he  cherished,  and  did  not 
think  it  wise  to  seal  himself  hermetically  against  those  who, 
in  spite  of  differences  of  religious  convictions,  enjoyed  his 
esteem.  He  visited  at  New  York  the  Rev.  H.  Barclay,  for- 
merly missionary  among  the  Indians,  now  the  most  promi- 


2/0  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

nent  among  the  Episcopal  clergy  at  New  York.  The  Episco- 
palians were  at  that  time  engaged  in  building  a  second  large 
church;  the  Dutch  Reformed  had  two  large  churches  and 
four  pastors.  The  senior  of  them,  Rev.  Du  Bois,  who  had 
already  labored  fifty-two  years  at  New  York,  preached  regu- 
larly, and  still  read  the  smallest  print  without  glasses,  received 
Muhlenberg  very  kindly,  and  invited  him  to  his  table.  Miihl- 
enberg  also  paid  his  respects  to  Rev.  De  Ronda,  of  the  same 
denomination,  who  then  as  a  preacher  met  with  the  greatest 
applause,  but  did  not  impress  Muhlenberg  with  spiritual- 
ity of  character  as  much  as  did  his  wife,  a  lady  of  noble 
family,  who  in  reply  to  a  question  of  the  visitor  as  to  what 
had  moved  her  to  condescend  to  the  position  of  a  pastor's 
wife,  answered  that  true  nobility  did  not  consist  in  blood, 
but  in  the  birth  from  above  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  in 
other  respects  gave  evidence  of  her  understanding  of  spirit- 
ual things. 

Accompanied  by  a  few  of  the  elders  of  the  congregation, 
Muhlenberg  (June  4th  and  5th)  visited  a  few  members  living 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Hudson,  in  New  Jersey — among  them, 
especially,  Mr.  Lawrence  van  Buskirk,  who  formerly  had 
been  an  active  member  and  officer  of  the  Dutch  congregation 
in  New  York,  had  assisted  in  building  the  church,  and  as  a 
citizen  maintained  an  honorable  position,  but  under  the  pas- 
toral term  of  Knoll  did  not  attend  divine  service,  and  now,  in 
his  sixty-fifth  year,  was  suffering  with  dropsy.  Miihlenberg's 
visit  apparently  proved  a  blessing  to  him.  During  a  pro- 
tracted conversation  the  sufferer  opened  his  heart  to  his  visi- 
tor, narrated  to  him  the  course  of  his  life,  and  most  willingly 
accepted  the  counsel  and  spiritual  encouragement  which  he 
needed.  Muhlenberg  found  out  and  visited  some  other  mem- 
bers-of  the  congregation.  On  the  following  day  (June  5th) 
he  preached  in  Van  Buskirk's  residence  to  those  who  had 
assembled  for  this"  purpose,  and  the  suffering  host  shed  many 
tears  and  confessed  that  he  had  felt  the  word  of  God  as  a 
power  giving  him  new  life. 

On  his  return  to  New  York,  Muhlenberg  found  Raus  at  his 


HENRY  ME  LC HI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  2?  I 

lodgings,  who  on  the  following  day  departed  for  Pennsylvania. 
He  was  requested  by  Miihlenberg,  while  serving  at  Indianfield 
and  his  other  churches,  sometimes  to  preach  at  Providence 
and  New  Hanover,  and  in  this  way  to  relieve  Brunnholtz  and 
other  brethren  who  had  promised  during  Miihlenberg's  ab- 
sence to  take  care  of  his  pastoral  charge.  Soon  afterward 
Weygand  came  on  a  visit  to  New  York,  and  reported  to 
Miihlenberg  that  at  Hackensack  he  had  met  Riess  and  con- 
versed with  him.  He  had  learned  from  him  that  at  the  insti- 
gation of  Knoll,  who  had  resigned  his  charge,  he  had  taken 
an  interest  in  the  Lutherans  of  that  town,  who  counted  be- 
tween twenty-four  and  thirty  families.  Since  the  beginning 
of  the  eighteenth  century  there  had  been  at  Hackensack  a  con- 
gregation of  Dutch  Lutherans,  to  whose  spiritual  wants  the 
pastors  of  the  New  York  congregation  had  attended,  until, 
under  the  services  of  Knoll,  who  had  no  success  as  a  pastor, 
indifference  began  to  prevail  and  the  flock  was  more  or  less 
dispersed.  The  remnants  of  the  Lutheran  congregation,  as 
well  as  the  German  Lutherans  living  at  Remmerspach  (which 
we  also  mentioned  before),  were  occasionally  visited  by  Riess. 
The  Lutherans  at  Hackensack,  learning  through  Weygand  of 
the  united  Pennsylvania  pastors  and  of  their  principles  and 
ways,  desired  that  Riess,  who  had  listened  to  all  this,  should 
join  them  ;  for  which,  however,  neither  he  nor  they  were  pre- 
pared. Riess  would  have  preferred  a  call  to  a  suitable  coun- 
try charge ;  he  did  not  feel  at  all  comfortable  in  the  hands  of 
his  party  in  New  York,  but  could  not  yet  free  himself  from 
that  responsibility.  Miihlenberg  thought  best  to  visit  him. 
Riess  braced  himself  up,  used  high  words,  complained  of  the 
gross  manners  of  the  Dutch,  and  seemed  to  be  full  of  hope 
that  his  party  would  come  in  triumph  out  of  the  struggle. 
He  had  established  a  drug-store,  was  practising  as  a  physi- 
cian, and  boasted  of  his  large  income  from  these  sources. 

June  23d  some  elders  and  deacons  of  Hackensack  attended 
the  services  held  by  Miihlenberg.  On  the  following  day  they 
conferred  with  him  on  the  affairs  of  their  congregation,  and 
invited  him  to  visit  them,  to  preach  for  them,  and  to  adminis- 


2/2  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

ter  the  Lord's  Supper.  He  was  willing  to  visit  them  and 
to  preach  to  them,  for  which  the  officers  of  his  own  con- 
gregation had  been  requested  to  give  their  consent.  Before 
administering  to  their  congregation  the  Lord's  Supper  he 
desired  first  to  become  better  acquainted  with  them.  They 
complained  that  Riess  could  not  preach  in  the  Dutch  lan- 
guage, while  they  did  not  understand  his  German ;  they  also 
disliked  his  independent,  unsynodical  position. 

July  i8th-24th,  Miihlenberg  paid  his  first,  and  Aug.  I4th- 
2 1st,  his  second,  visit  at  Hackensack.  He  was  brought  into 
contact  with  many  of  the  members  of  the  Lutheran  congre- 
gation and  with  others.  People  came  to  see  him,  and  he  care- 
fully improved  the  occasion  to  speak  many  a  good  word. 
It  grieved  him  to  learn  that  the  title  "  Lutheran  pastor  "  had 
become  almost  a  reproach,  as  many  had  made  it  synonymous 
with  litigious  and  quarrelsome  vagabonds.  Sunday,  July  2 1st, 
he  preached  in  the  morning  in  Dutch ;  in  the  afternoon  in 
English.  In  the  morning  the  fine  large  church  was  not  quite 
filled  with  Lutherans  and  Reformed,  but,  says  he,  "they  paid  at- 
tention with  eyes,  ears,  mouth,  and  nose,  and  numbers  were 
in  tears.  The  poor  Lutherans  in  this  locality  were  very 
much  dispersed,  and  had  been  driven  away  by  the  long-stand- 
ing strifes  of  ministers  and  their  bad  example.  They  have  a 
fine  large  church  built  of  stone,  and  a  parsonage.  Some  of 
them  still  keep  together,  meet  in  the  church  from  Sunday  to 
Sunday,  and  read  a  sermon.  The  singing  has  gone  wholly 
to  ruin ;  they  are  not  able  to  sing  even  the  best-known 
hymns :  the  lamentable  noise  they  make  is  much  more  like 
a  confused  dispute  than  a  melody.  In  the  afternoon  the 
church  was  too  small,  and  large  numbers  had  to  stand  out- 
side around  the  doors  and  windows.  I  preached  in  English 
on  the  Prodigal  Son  (Luke  xv.),  and  began  singing,  out  of  our 
English  hymn-book,  Resits,  deine  tiefe  Wundenj  etc.  The  hymn 
and  the  melody  being  unknown,  I  read  the  verses  aloud  and 
led  in  singing.  Some  women  followed  with  soft,  melodious 
voices  and  agreeable  harmony,  so  that  the  people  were 
charmed.  Never  in  my  life  did  I  see  more  attentive  hearers. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2/3 

God  grant  that  it  may  not  be  in  vain !"  On  the  following 
Sunday,  in  accordance  with  the  wish  of  the  church-officers, 
he  preached  in  German,  many  Reformed  having  expressed  a 
desire  to  hear  "  that  Lutheran."  After  services  two  men  of 
the  Remmerspach  congregation  came  to  him,  in  the  presence 
of  the  Hackensack  elders  and  deacons  inquired  about  the  state 
of  affairs  between  the  two  parties  at  New  York,  and  com- 
plained that  Riess  had  now  for  six  months  kept  them  in 
suspense.  He  learned  from  them  that  also  at  Remmerspach 
they  met  from  Sunday  to  Sunday,  sang  a  church-hymn,  and 
had  a  sermon  read  to  them  from  a  book  written  by  Augustus 
Hermann  Francke  which  had  been  brought  to  this  country 
in  the  times  of  Queen  Anne.  The  Hackensack  people  also 
pathetically  entreated  Miihlenberg  not  to  forsake  them,  but 
to  act  toward  them  as  a  father,  as  for  so  many  years  they  had 
had  such  sad  experiences  with  preachers,  and  were  like  sheep 
without  a  shepherd. 

Miihlenberg  also  here  met  with  some  cases  which  afforded 
special  pastoral  interest  and  gave  him  occasion  to  speak  words 
of  comfort  to  troubled  souls.  The  wife  of  the  host  with  whom 
he  lodged  was  a  member  of  the  Reformed  Church.  Her  pas- 
tor was  a  man  of  religious  fervor,  and  apparently  of  consider- 
able force  as  a  preacher,  but  he  was  totally  wedded  to  the 
strictest  Calvinistic  predestinarian  principles,  and  considered 
it  his  duty  to  introduce  them  in  his  sermons  whenever  occa- 
sion was  given.  This  had  such  a  powerful  effect  upon  the 
woman  that  she  became  horrified,  fell  into  a  dangerous  sick- 
ness, and  was  still  a  sufferer,  and  with  tears  flowing  com- 
plained that  she  had  no  assurance  of  being  one  of  the  elect 
and  in  a  state  of  grace,  and  that  she  frequently  felt  nothing 
but  fear  of  the  divine  wrath  and  eternal  death,  which  in  her 
case,  as  Miihlenberg  was  convinced,  was  the  result  of  inju- 
dicious pastoral  zeal.  Another  woman,  wife  of  an  elder,  was 
also  troubled  with  doubts  concerning  her  own  salvation.  She 
had  for  a  long  time,  feeling  the  force  of  the  letter  of  the  law, 
scrupulously  tried  to  give  satisfaction  to  its  demands  by 
strictly  keeping  the  letter  and  fulfilling  every  possible  require- 

18 


2/4  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

ment  of  it ;  yet  she  had  found  no  peace  of  mind,  but  after  she 
had  confessed  to  a  former  pastor  her  sinful  condition  and 
want  of  saving  faith  in  Him  who  had  borne  our  sins,  and 
received  the  answer  that  she  should  not  doubt  or  she  would 
be  lost,  unable  to  conquer  all  doubt,  she  feared  she  had  com- 
mitted the  sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost.  Miihlenberg  in- 
structed her  about  the  great  love  of  God  toward  us,  and  gave 
her  the  sweetest  assurances  of  divine  loving-kindness  found  in 
the  Bible,  while  he  repeated  to  her  the  case  of  the  distressed 
widow  whose  unceasing  petitions  moved  the  heart  even  of  an 
atheistic,  insolent  judge,  and  said  to  her,  "  Certainly  the  heart 
of  the  Saviour,  which  was  more  tender  than  that  of  any 
mother,  could  not  and  would  not  remain  unmoved  by  the 
crying  of  a  child  in  extreme  danger." 

July  23d,  Miihlenberg  preached  there  once  more  in  the 
Dutch  language  on  the  Beatitudes  (Matt.  v.).  The  two  Re- 
formed pastors  of  the  town  were  both  present,  and  the  large 
assembly  was  very  attentive.  One  man,  a  member  of  the 
Reformed  Church,  was  so  absorbed  in  reflecting  upon  the 
truths  he  had  heard  that  after  service  he  walked  'home,  a  dis- 
tance of  three  miles,  altogether  forgetting  that  he  had  left  his 
horse  standing  near  the  church.  It  was  quite  encouraging 
to  Miihlenberg  to  find  that  the  Lutherans  in  that  locality  now 
felt  themselves  animated  with  new  hope,  and  no  longer  had 
cause  to  be  ashamed  of  their  religion  when  allusion  was  made 
to  their  pastors.  But  in  his  sober  way  of  thinking  he  says : 
"  The  three  disciples  on  the  heights  of  the  Mount  of  Trans- 
figuration possibly  also  thought  they  would  never  be  ashamed 
of  their  religion,  but  the  situation  had  become  quite  different 
in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane."  On  July  24th  he  returned  to 
New  York.  Before  he  left,  the  church-officers  entreated  him 
to  return  and  administer  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  to  endeavor 
to  have  them  reunited  with  the  New  York  congregation. 

Aug.  I4th  he  again  visited  Hackensack.  He  had  occasion 
to  enter  into  conversation  on  religious  topics  with  various 
individuals,  and  to  give  them  instruction  and  comfort.  He 
also  succeeded  in  reconciling  some  members  of  the  congre- 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G. 

gation,  who  were  finally  willing  to  forgive  each  other  their 
offences.  After  preparatory  services  held  Aug.  I7th  he  cele- 
brated (Aug.  1 8th)  the  Lord's  Supper  with  the  congregation. 
An  interest  having  been  excited  in  the  sacramental  question, 
among  Reformed  as  well  as  among  Lutherans,  in  consequence 
of  his  touching  upon  this  topic  in  conversation,  Miihlenberg 
resolved  to  preach  on  the  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 
There  were  present,  as  might  be  expected,  also  many  mem- 
bers of  the  Reformed  persuasion ;  they  as  well  as  the  Lu- 
therans were  desirous  of  hearing  what  Miihlenberg  would  say 
on  this  grave  subject.  As  his  text  he  took  the  words  oflthe 
institution,  and  considered  the  Founder  of  it,  the  time  and  the 
circumstances,  what  was  offered  and  what  was  received  in 
it,  and  the  benefits  and  the  design  of  the  ordinance.  He  says 
in  his  diary :  "  I  refrained  from  all  scholastic  and  unnecessary 
fancies,  simply  and  sincerely  rested  on  the  clear  testamentary 
words  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  acted  therein  like  Queen 
Elizabeth,  who,  when  questioned  by  the  Roman  emissaries 
about  this  article  of  faith,  answered,  '  It  was  the  Word  that 
spake  it;  He  took  the  bread  and  brake  it;  and  what  the 
Word  did  make  it,  that  I  believe  and  take  it.' "  After  the 
sermon  more  than  thirty  individuals  participated  in  the 
sacrament.  Miihlenberg  learned  that  his  plain,  straightfor- 
ward manner  of  preaching  had  made  a  favorable  impression 
on  both  sides.  In  the  afternoon  he  preached  to  a  large 
assembly  on  the  Gospel  of  the  Sunday.  On  the  following 
day  some  of  the  elders  went  on  horseback  to  a  number  of 
church-members  and  inquired  whether  they  were  not  willing 
to  accept  of  such  a  pastor  and  to  contribute  to  his  support, 
provided  they  could  have  service  every  fourth  week.  Quite 
a  number  of  the  Reformed,  even,  offered  their  assistance, 
which,  however,  was  kindly  refused.  Some  young  people 
not  yet  confirmed,  though  married,  who  already  had  felt 
inclined  to  join  some  other  denomination,  now  resolved, 
with  the  help  of  God,  to  become  true  members  of  the 
Church  and  of  the  congregation.  On  the  evening  of  the 
same  day  the  elders  and  the  deacons  met  and  presented 


276  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Muhlenberg  a  regular  call.  Learning  that  the  old  congre- 
gation at  New  York  intended  to  address  the  Fathers  in 
Europe,  and  to  petition  them  to  permit  Muhlenberg  to 
accept  of  their  call,  they  requested  him  to  send  with  'it 
theirs  also.  On  the  following  day  Muhlenberg  once  more 
visited  sick  Mr.  Van  Buskirk,  who  resided  twenty  miles 
distant  from  Hackensack. 

Aug.  2Oth,  after  giving  the  sick  friend  admonition  and 
encouragement  and  addressing  a  number  of  Lutherans  and 
Reformed  who  had  gathered  together,  Muhlenberg  was 
brought  safely  to  New  York  in  a  boat  belonging  to  Van 
Buskirk.  In  this  city  he  was,  as  he  tells  us  in  his  diary, 
not  unpleasantly  affected  by  the  climate.  "  But,"  says  he, 
"  there  is  another  inconvenience :  they  cannot  give  one  a 
draught  of  good  water.  The  wells  in  the  town  are  brack- 
ish. The  water  for  drinking  and  cooking  the  people  are 
obliged  to  buy.  Not  far  from  the  city,  and  also  at  its  extreme 
limits,  there  are  some  wells  containing  moderately  good  water. 
Many  persons  make  a  living  by  daily  filling  barrels  with  water 
from  the  good  wells  and  driving  around  with  it  for  sale  in  the 
city."  Perhaps  during  the  summer  heat  at  New  York,  Muhl- 
enberg felt  a  longing  for  the  sweet,  cooling  waters  rushing 
forth  from  under  the  rocks  and  the  hills  around  Providence, 
as  the  children  of  Israel  in  the  desert  longed  for  cool,  refresh- 
ing springs.  The  change  of  locality  and  of  manner  of  living 
had  already  in  June  seriously  affected  his  health,  and,  though 
kind  friends  willingly  paid  attention  to  him,  he  was  without 
the  care  which  would  have  been  bestowed  upon  him  in  his 
own  house  and  by  his  family.  June  i/th,  Weiser  arrived  at 
New  York  on  another  tour  for  the  pacification  of  the  Indians, 
and  handed  to  his  son-in-law  a  number  of  letters  from  Halle 
and  London,  which  greatly  rejoiced  the  heart  of  Muhlenberg, 
who,  weakened  as  he  was  by  the  serious  attack  of  sickness  he 
had  suffered,  highly  valued  the  kind  remembrance  in  which 
he  was  held  by  men  like  Francke.  Seeing  that  the  attendance 
at  church  was  increasing,  and  that  numbers  of  the  old  natives 
of  Holland  who  for  years  had  forsaken  their  house  of  worship 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2JJ 

had  returned  to  it,  he  allowed  no  relaxation  to  his  efforts, 
though  the  friends  advised  him  to  rest  and  to  recover  his 
usual  strength.  C.  Weiser  had  come  with  one  of  his  sons, 
who,  influenced  by  the  request  of  the  government,  intended 
to  live  for  some  time  among  the  Indians,  so  as  to  be  enabled, 
by  learning  their  language,  to  serve  hereafter  as  an  interpreter 
between  them  and  the  English  civil  authorities. 

The  plan  of  a  union  between  the  old  Dutch  and  the  new 
German  congregation  was  not  yet  given  up.  During  the  last 
week  of  June,  Miihlenberg  went  to  see  some  of  the  prominent 
members  of  the  German  congregation.  Many  of  them,  but 
not  all,  he  found  in  a  sober  condition.  They  brought  up 
various  charges  against  the  vestry  of  the  other  congregation, 
complaining  that  its  members  were  proud,  did  not  act  rightly 
as  to  the  property  and  the  charities  of  the  church,  called  the 
Germans  "  servants,"  and  were  against  German  services  in  the 
church.  They  were  ready  for  a  reunion,  provided  the  Dutch 
congregation  would  buy  the  meeting-house  and  pay  all  the 
debts  of  the  other  party.  Miihlenberg,  who  was  not  antag- 
onistic to  a  proper  union  of  the  two  parties,  since  neither  of 
them  gave  sufficient  signs  of  vitality  to  justify  a  separate 
existence,  could  easily  refute  all  these  objections.  On  this 
account  he  held  (July  1st)  a  vestry-meeting,  where  all  the 
propositions  for  a  union  were  taken  into  consideration.  The 
demands  of  the  German  party  were  found  unreasonable. 
Even  if  the  old  congregation  would  financially  relieve  the 
Germans,  the  legal  aspects  of  the  act  were  by  no  means 
settled;  there  was  no  guarantee  whatever  given  concerning 
the  course  the  Germans  might  pursue  in  the  future.  The 
vestry  met  again  on  July  I5th.  A  resolution  was  passed  to 
frame  certain  articles  as  conditions  for  the  proposed  union, 
and  to  send  a  copy  of  them  to  the  other  party.  It  would 
lead  us  too  far  here  to  copy  the  preamble  and  articles.  The 
whole  document  shows  the  considerate,  far-seeing,  careful 
mind  of  Miihlenberg,  who  had  the  strongest  reasons  for 
desiring  a  union  of  the  two  parties,  but  who  would  never 
purchase  a  seemingly  good  momentary  result  at  the  sacrifice 


2/8  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

of  principles  on  which  alone  could  securely  rest  a  true  union 
and  a  sound  progress  of  congregational  life.  Our  conviction 
is  that  no  articles  or  conditions,  of  whatever  merit  they  were, 
could  at  that  time  have  produced  a  healthful  union  of  a  last- 
ing character.  The  very  material  of  which  Riess's  congrega- 
tion to  a  large  extent  consisted  would  have  prevented  the 
desirable  result.  Riess,  after  having  received  these  articles, 
which  were  perfectly  reasonable  and  quite  liberal,  when  re- 
quested by  Miihlenburg  to  make  his  adherents  consider  their 
own  best  interest  and  the  honor  of  the  Lutheran  Church, 
reported,  on  the  evening  of  July  i/th,  that  he  had  assembled 
his  party  and  gravely  admonished  them  this  time  "  not  to 
come  full  of  liquor  "  and  to  frame  a  proper  answer  on  their 
part.  Sapienti  sat. !  The  first  two  or  three  men  whom  this 
German  party  after  Riess's  resignation  elected  as  their  pastors 
present  evidence  enough  of  the  low  moral  tone  prevailing 
among  the  leading  individuals  and  of  the  total  absence  of  a 
higher  life.  The  answer  from  Riess's  adherents  coming  to 
the  old  congregation  showed  that,  while  acceding  to  some 
of  the  propositions  laid  before  them,  they  unconditionally 
demanded  that  the  united  congregation  should  bear  the  debts 
of  the  German  party — that  Riess  should  be  requested  to  serve 
as  pastor,  and  in  the  case  of  his  unwillingness  the  Rev.  Peter 
Sommer,  pastor  at  Schoharie,  a  son-in-law  of  Berkenmeier, 
should  be  called.  To  the  document  framed  in  this  spirit  and 
handed  by  Riess  to  Miihlenberg  not  one  man  had  given  his 
signature.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  testimonial  so  framed  as  to  satisfy 
Riess  and  hereafter  to  serve  his  purposes,  but  of  no  value  for 
the  interests  then  under  consideration. 

Miihlenberg,  who  had  honestly  endeavored  to  bring  about 
a  union  between  the  two  parties,  saw  plainly  that  for  any  prog- 
ress in  this  direction  the  field  was  not  prepared.  To  encour- 
age and  strengthen  as  best  he  could  that  flock  which  had 
entrusted  itself  to  his  care  appeared  to  him  his  sole  duty. 
He  felt  that  by  adding  to  the  services  held  in  the  Dutch  and 
German  languages  others  held  in  the  English  he  might  exer- 
cise an  influence  upon  numbers  of  those  who  were  not  bene- 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  279 

fited  by  the  services  in  the  other  languages.  It  had  indeed 
been  suggested  to  him  that  he  should  preach  also  in  English ; 
he  resolved  now  to  do  so  on  Sunday  evenings,  though  he  found 
it  a  severe  task  during  the  hot  days  of  summer  to  deliver  on  the 
same  Sunday  three  sermons  in  three  different  languages.  His 
vestrymen  also  were  averse  to  any  further  discussion  of  the 
plan  for  uniting  the  two  parties,  and  agreed  that  the  pastor 
of  their  church  should  spend  every  fourth  Sunday  at  Hacken- 
sack  to  build  up  that  long-neglected  congregation.  There 
were  numbers  of  people  who  in  other  churches  had  no  even- 
ing services,  and  were  averse  to  the  Calvinistic  principles  then 
frequently  preached  and  defended  from  many  a  pulpit.  Sun- 
day, July  28th,  he  began  the  evening  services  in  English.  The 
church  was  not  large  enough  to  accommodate  all  who  came. 
The  hymn-book — of  which,  however,  only  one  copy  was  on 
hand — was  the  Psalmodia  Germanica,  or  the  German  Psalmody, 
translated  from  the  High  Dutch,  together  with  their  proper  tunes 
and  thoroughbass,  first  published  at  London  in  two  parts,  1722 
and  1725  ;  again  published  at  London  1732.  This  latter  edition 
was  used  in  New  York.  Muhlenberg  took  for  his  text  Luke 
vii.  36-50.  On  the  following  Sunday  he  preached,  as  before, 
in  the  morning  in  Dutch,  administered  the  Lord's  Supper  to 
some  fifty  persons,  and  preached  in  the  evening  again  in  Eng- 
lish to  a  still  larger  assembly.  The  days  of  the  week  he  used 
for  instruction  of  the  young,  for  visits  to  the  members  of  the 
church,  especially  to  the  sick,  for  correspondence,  study,  and 
meditation.  July  ioth-i2th  he  spent  at  the  residence  of  J. 
M.  Magens  (mentioned  before)  at  Flushing.  Returning  thence 
in  a  small  craft  during  rough  weather,  his  life  was  for  a  mo- 
ment in  imminent  peril  while  he  was  trying  to  aid  in  adjust- 
ing the  rigging. 

When,  in  the  beginning  of  August,  the  vestry  again  as- 
sembled, Muhlenberg  informed  them  that  various  letters  from 
home  made  it  obligatory  on  him  toward  the  end  of  the  month 
to  return  to  his  family.  This  news  produced  great  consterna- 
tion among  the  vestrymen.  Various  plans  were  proposed.  To 
call  a  pastor  directly  from  Europe  would  be  a  very  hazardous 


28O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

undertaking,  since,  inexperienced  as  he  certainly  would  be,  he 
would  easily  take  wrong  steps,  and  perhaps  give  the  congre- 
gation, already  weak  enough,  a  death-blow.  They  thought 
the  venerable  Fathers  in  Europe  might  be  willing  to  allow 
Miihlenberg — at  least  for  a  few  years,  if  not  for  his  lifetime — 
to  settle  at  New  York,  since  in  Pennsylvania  only  one  lan- 
guage, the  German,  was  needed,  while  here  two  in  addition. 
Miihlenberg  certainly  felt  greatly  embarrassed,  and  went  so 
far  as  to  say  that,  provided  the  Fathers  ordered  him  to  New 
York,  he  would  have  to  obey.  J.  M.  Magens  was  requested 
to  address  the  Fathers  on  the  subject,  to  entreat  them  merci- 
fully to  consider  the  lamentable  condition  of  the  congregation, 
and  to  order  Miihlenberg  to  New  York. 

For  the  present  Muhlenberg  could  not  neglect  the  summons 
from  Pennsylvania,  and  particularly  from  his  family.  He  was 
willing  at  a  later  period  again  to  devote  time  and  strength  to 
a  cause  which  had  such  strong  claims  upon  his  sympathy. 
He  had  promised  to  stay  three  months  during  1751  with  the 
people  who  had  called  him  to  New  York.  Being  unable  to 
fulfil  his  promise  now,  he  thought  it  his  duty  to  continue 
through  a  substitute  the  work  begun  by  himself,  and  for  this 
reason  he  engaged  the  services  of  Weygand  (then  having 
care  of  the  Raritan  congregations)  for  at  least  six  weeks. 
Weygand  arrived  Aug.  24th,  and,  having  received  all  neces- 
sary information,  advice,  and  instruction  to  keep  a  diary  and 
to  enter  therein  all  his  pastoral  acts,  he  preached  .Sunday  after- 
noon (Aug.  25th)  in  the  German,  while  Muhlenberg  preached  in 
the  evening  in  the  English,  when  he  took  for  his  subject  Gen. 
xxviii.  10.  Weygand,  as  it  seems,  was  at  first  not  quite  pleased 
with  the  appearance  of  things  in  the  congregation  now  tempo- 
rarily entrusted  to  his  care.  Compared  with  the  large  crowds 
which  attended  his  services  on  the  Raritan,  his  sphere  of  action 
appeared  to  him  very  much  reduced.  Miihlenberg  told  him 
that  when  beginning  his  work  in  Pennsylvania  he  had  passed 
through  the  same  experience  and  had  the  same  feelings,  but 
the  care  of  even  two  or  three  souls,  considering  our  inability 
for  the  proper  performance  of  such  responsible  duties,  was 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  28  I 

too  much  for  us,  and  we  were  often  remiss  in  the  proper 
attention  to  the  interests  of  our  own  souls.  Seeing  in  the 
evening  a  crowded  church,  Weygand  took  courage.  He  had 
at  least  some  knowledge  of  the  Dutch  language,  which  cir- 
cumstance particularly  moved  Miihlenberg  to  select  him  as  a 
substitute. 

We  deem  it  proper  to  mention  that  a  number  of  the  pas- 
tors presiding  in  New  York  over  congregations  of  various 
persuasions  returned  the  visits  of  Miihlenberg.  Among  them 
was  the  Rev.  Eb.  Pemberton,  D.  D.,  pastor  of  a  Presbyterian 
congregation,  who  as  a  forcible  preacher  influenced  by  the 
spirit  of  Whitefield,  then  a  burning  and  shining  light  in  the 
American  provinces,  stood  in  high  esteem.  In  his  conversa- 
tions with  him  Miihlenberg  found  that  this  Presbyterian  cler- 
gyman was  not  wholly  uninformed  concerning  the  peculiar 
doctrines  of  the  Lutheran  Church.  He  had  read  some  of  the 
Latin  writings  of  Lutheran  theologians,  and  thought  that  they 
were  not  precise  enough  in  their  description  of  repentance, 
since  they  stated  that  a  sufficient  recognition  of  sin,  repent- 
ance for  it,  and  distress  about  it  could  be  brought  about  by 
the  law.  He  admitted  that  by  the  law  sin  might  be  prop- 
erly recognized  in  its  quantitative  relation,  but  that  the  con- 
sideration of  the  sufferings  and  the  death  of  Christ  would  lead 
to  a  better  understanding  of  its  qualitative  character.  He  also 
thought  that  the  Lutheran  theologians  did  not  sufficiently 
define  the  elements  of  faith,  cognitionem,  assensum,  fidiiciam, 
especially  the  latter  two.  Miihlenberg,  by  referring  directly 
to  the  statements  of  the  Confessions  of  the  Lutheran  Church, 
succeeded  in  rectifying  the  misunderstanding  of  his  clerical 
visitor,  who  spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  Luther's  writings, 
parts  of  which  he  had  read.  He  specially  mentioned  Luther's 
Commentary  on  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians. 

Aug.  26th,  the  day  on  which  Miihlenberg  left  New  York  to 
return  to  Pennsylvania,  Riess  also  came  to  say  "farewell," 
and  for  the  same  purpose  some  of  his  adherents.  Trifling  as 
this  circumstance  may  appear,  it  is  a  welcome  proof  that  he 
and  they,  though  maintaining  a  position  antagonistic  to  the 


282  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

interests  Miihlenberg  represented,  could  not  but  respect  him 
and  were  willing  to  make  him  acquainted  with  these  their  feel- 
ings. On  the  same  day  Miihlenberg  was  accompanied  at  noon 
by  Weygand  and  some  other  friends  to  the  vessel  which  took 
him  over  to  New  Jersey.  By  way  of  Philadelphia  he  arrived 
(Aug.  2pth)  in  the  midst  of  his  family  at  Providence.  Sept. 
I  ^th  was  born  his  second  daughter,  who  in  holy  baptism  was 
named  Margaretta  Henrietta,  the  name  Henrietta  in  honor  of 
the  wife  of  the  Rev.  J.  A.  Francke,  D.  D.,  at  Halle.  The  first 
daughter,  Eve  Elizabeth,  saw  the  light  of  this  world  Jan.  29, 
1748.  The  name  Eve  was  given  to  her  in  honor  of  her  grand- 
mother Weiser,  whose  name  was  Ann  Eve. 


HENRY  MEL CHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  283 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 
1751-1752. 

Miihlenberg's  pastoral  work  at  Providence,  New  Hanover,  and  the  vicinity. — Cor- 
respondence with  his  relatives  at  Eimbeck  and  with  dignitaries  of  the  Church 
in  Germany. — Arrival  of  Rev.  J.  D.  M.  Heintzelmann  and  Rev.  Fred.  Schultz. 
— Heintzelmann  appointed  assistant  to  Brunnholtz. — His  early  death. — 
Schultz,  for  a  time  assistant  to  Miihlenberg,  labors  for  a  few  years  at  New 
Goshenhoppen  and  at  Indianfield. — His  further  career. — Miihlenberg  again 
during  three  months  active  in  pastoral  work  at  New  York  and  Hackensack. — 
He  preaches  in  Dutch,  in  German,  and  in  English;  catechises  adults;  in- 
structs, confirms,  and  administers  the  sacraments. — His  interest  in  the  colored 
race;  views  on  certain  recently-introduced  measures.— Rev.  Mich.  Schlatter 
of  the  German  Reformed  Church. — His  career  in  America  and  friendly  rela- 
tions with  Miihlenberg. — Miihlenberg  returns  to  Pennsylvania. — Statistics  as 
to  his  pastoral  work. — Extent  of  his  influence. 

THREE  months  and  eight  days  Miihlenberg  had  spent  at 
New  York  and  Hackensack  during  the  summer  of  1751. 
Synod  had  granted  him,  as  we  learned,  six  months'  leave  of 
absence  from  his  congregations  and  from  Pennsylvania :  for 
that  purpose,  consequently,  almost  three  months  were  still  at 
his  disposal.  He  had  accepted,  though  conditionally,  the  call 
given  him  by  the  old  Lutheran  congregation  at  New  York ; 
this  call  was  still  in  force.  He  acknowledged  the  obligation 
resting  upon  him.  The  members  of  the  New  York  church 
did  not  cease  to  remind  him  of  their  claims,  and  to  these  claims 
were  now  added  those  of  the  Lutheran  membership  at  Hack- 
ensack. Miihlenberg  intended  to  spend  three  months  of  the 
ensuing  winter  at  New  York,  but  as  early  as  the  fall,  in 
answer  to  a  letter  of  Captain  C.  R.  Hartel  (whose  name  is 
familiar  to  us,  and  who  had  informed  him  that  the  German 
party,  in  consequence  of  Riess's  resignation,  had  already 
elected  another  pastor,  and  that  the  old  church  was  in  great 


284  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

trouble),  he  stated  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  him  to  come 
to  New  York  before  March,  1752.  This,  however,  did  not 
prevent  further  correspondence  with  the  New  York  friends, 
who  felt  that  without  Muhlenberg  their  cause  was  lost.  The 
vestry  sent  a  pressing  letter  February  II,  1752.  It  was  im- 
possible for  Muhlenberg  to  return  to  New  York  in  March, 
but  another  letter  of  the  vestry,  dated  April  6th,  manifests 
great  joy  on  the  receipt  of  his  promise  to  come  yet  in 
that  month. 

During  the  winter  of  1751-52,  Muhlenberg,  as  time  and 
strength  permitted,  was  attending  to  his  duties  in  his  congre- 
gations of  Providence,  New  Hanover,  and  the  various  outposts 
on  each  side  of  the  Schuylkill.  There  was  also  particularly 
entrusted  to  him  the  correspondence  with  the  Fathers  in  Eu- 
rope, who  not  only  desired  to  receive  from  time  to  time  the 
diaries  dutifully  kept  by  each  of  the  pastors  sent  from  Halle, 
but  expected  also  extended  reports  on  the  general  state  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  America.  To  this  necessary  correspond- 
ence were  added  many  private  letters  which  Muhlenberg,  in 
the  interests  of  the  congregations  and  pastors  synodically 
united,  sent  to  prominent  men  of  the  clergy  and  laity  in  Ger- 
many, who  often  by  charitable  acts  showed  their  sympathy. 
The  circle  of  correspondence  included  especially  also  his 
relations  and  other  acquaintances  at  Eimbeck,  his  native 
place,  where  at  the  end  of  1747  his  mother,  at  the  age  of 
seventy-two  years  and  three  months,  less  four  days,  had  died 
and  gone  to  her  eternal  rest.  March  17,  1752,  he  despatched 
letters  to  his  two  brothers,  Henry  Christopher  and  John 
Arndt,  living  at  Eimbeck.  He  corresponded  also  with  one 
of  the  Eimbeck  pastors  and  with  friends  from  the  ranks  of 
the  laity.  Of  special  value  to  us  are  his  letters  addressed  to 
men  in  high  position  in  the  Church — among  others,  Rev.  J. 
Ph.  Fresenius,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Sam.  Urlsperger,  D.  D.,  and  Rev. 
Ph.  H.  Weissensee,  D.  D.,  one  of  the  highest  dignitaries  of 
the  Church  of  Wurtemberg.  A  number  of  such  extended 
and  very  instructive  letters  were  written  during  the  winter  of 
1751-52.  One  of  them,  dated  Nov.  15,  1751,  and  addressed 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  2%$ 

to  Fresenius,  gives  a  very  striking  description  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical and  spiritual  condition  of  the  field  in  which  Miihlen- 
berg  and  his  colaborers  were  carrying  on  the  work  of  the 
Lord. 

Dec.  I,  1751,  two  other  missionaries — Rev.  John  Dietrich 
Matthaeus  Heintzelmann  and  Rev.  Frederick  Schultz — arrived 
from  Halle.  Heintzelmann,  a  native  of  Salzwedel,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Magdeburg  in  Prussia,  son  of  a  physician, 
having  completed  the  usual  preparatory  classical  course  in 
the  place  of  his  birth  and  at  Stendal,  received  his  theological 
education  at  Halle,  where  he  was  for  a  time  inspector  in  one 
of  the  Francke  schools.  It  appears  that  his  superiors  had 
for  some  time  regarded  him  as  especially  fitted  for  mis- 
sionary work  in  America.  When,  finally,  the  call  to  that 
distant  field  came  to  him,  he  after  prayerful  and  prolonged 
consideration  gave  his  hearty  consent.  The  Fathers  at  Halle 
and  the  directors  of  the  Orphan-House  and  of  institutions 
connected  with  it  did  not  look  with  perfect  satisfaction  upon 
certain  privileges  granted  to  unordained  assistants  or  cate- 
chists  in  the  field  of  labor  in  America — a  point  to  which  we 
formerly  referred.  For  this  reason  Heintzelmann  and  his 
companion,  Schultz,  though  without  a  call  from  any  local 
congregation,  were  ordained  at  Wernigerode,  July  II,  1751, 
before  starting  on  the  voyage  to  the  New  World.  By  way 
of  Hamburg  they  arrived  at  London  Sept.  2d,  embarked  on 
the  1 7th  at  Gravesend,  and  after  an  unusually  short  voyage 
landed  at  Philadelphia  Dec.  1st.  Miihlenberg,  Brunnholtz, 
and  Handschuh  (Dec.  1 7th)  held  a  consultation  at  Philadel- 
phia, and  on  Jan.  15,  1752,  conferred  with  the  two  brethren 
at  Providence  on  the  future  sphere  of  labor  to  be  allotted 
to  them.  It  was  resolved  that  Heintzelmann  should  assist 
Brunnholtz,  who,  in  his  continually  and  rapidly-augmenting 
congregation  at  Philadelphia  and  with  his  increasing  infirm- 
ities, needed  help.  At  once  entering  upon  this  field  of  labor, 
Heintzelmann,  with  the  parochial  teacher  Naumann,  was  en- 
gaged every  day  a  number  of  hours  in  teaching  the  youth  of 
the  congregation — an  office  in  which  he  was  quite  successful 


286  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

and  gave  special  satisfaction  to  Miihlenberg,  who  never  ceased 
to  keep  a  watchful  eye  on  the  schools  and  the  religious 
instruction  of  the  children  of  the  Church.  In  1753,  Heint- 
zelmann,  whose  preaching  and  other  services  were  well  ap- 
preciated by  the  congregation,  was  elected  its  second  pastor. 
In  November,  1754,  he  married  Ann  Eve,  sister  of  Mrs. 
Miihlenberg,  and  died,  after  a  short  but  useful  career,  Feb. 
9,  1756.  Twenty-four  hours  after  his  death  a  son  was  born, 
to  whom  in  holy  baptism  the  name  Israel  was  given,  in  hon- 
or of  Provost  Acrelius,  one  of  the  sponsors.  As  his  mother 
after  some  time  entered  into  matrimony  with  a  Roman  Cath- 
olic, the  son,  in  accordance  with  the  well-known  convictions 
of  his  father,  was  placed  for  a  time  under  the  care  of  Henry 
Keppele,  one  of  his  guardians,  a  merchant  in  Philadelphia. 
To  escape  the  undesirable  influence  of  his  stepfather,  the 
youth  in  1773  was  sent  to  Georgia,  where  he  found  a  patron 
in  Adam  Treutlen,  magistrate  and  merchant  in  Ebenezer,  in 
whose  service  he  was.  There  was  a  prospect  of  marriage 
between  a  daughter  of  that  gentleman  and  young  Heintzel- 
mann,  but  after  having  been  there  not  quite  a  year  the  young 
man  was  thrown  from  a  spirited  horse  which  he  was  break- 
ing, and  died,  in  consequence  of  the  fall,  on  the  following 
day. 

Frederick  Schultz,  born  at  Koenigsberg,  Prussia,  received 
his  education  partly  in  his  native  city,  partly  at  the  University 
of  Halle,  paying,  as  it  appears,  attention  both  to  theology  and 
to  medical  science.  At  Halle  he  had  also  for  some  time  a 
position  as  teacher  in  the  Orphan-House.  Already  in  1750  he 
declared  himself  willing  to  follow  a  call  to  the  Pennsylvania 
field  of  labor.  After  his  arrival  here  he  was  stationed  at  New 
Hanover  as  the  assistant  to  Muhlenberg,  preached  every  other 
week  at  New  Goshenhoppen,  was  present  at  the  synodical 
meeting  held  at  Germantown  Oct.  2,  1752,  moved,  with  the 
permission  of  synod,  to  New  Goshenhoppen,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing years  served  also  at  Indianfield,  where,  in  1753,  he 
began  the  church  record.  It  seems  that  as  late  as  1758  he 
served  in  Old  Goshenhoppen  after  Raus's  removal  to  York, 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  287 

Pa.,  but  after  1758  his  name  disappears  from  the  clerical  list 
of  synod.  He  married  in  1/54,  engaged  also  in  farming  and 
the  practice  of  medicine,  was  inclined  to  alchemistic  practices, 
paid  dearly  for  making  experiments  to  discover  the  "  Philos- 
opher's Stone,"  was  for  a  time  in  the  congregations  on  the 
Raritan,  applied  about  1764  to  Weygand  at  New  York  for  a 
situation  as  parochial  teacher,  and  served  from  1772-82  the 
Lutheran  congregation  at  Lunenburg,  Nova  Scotia,  and  for 
a  few  months  during  1784  the  one  at  Shelburne  in  the  same 
province.  The  report  that  he  died  as  late  as  1 809  needs  his- 
torical confirmation.  It  appears  that,  of  all  the  missionaries 
sent  from  Halle  in  the  times  of  Miihlenberg,  he  was  the  least 
successful — a  fact  with  which  harmonized  a  remark  of  Dr. 
Francke  in  a  confidential  letter  to  Miihlenberg,  that  he  had 
had  misgivings  about  Schultz  before  his  call  to  America. 

The  presence  of  Schultz  in  New  Hanover  in  1752,  together 
with  his  willingness  to  take  care  of  the  whole  pastoral  charge 
of  Miihlenberg,  proved  a  blessing  to  the  Dutch  congregation 
at  New  York.  Miihlenberg  had  finished  the  course  of  instruc- 
tion of  the  catechumens  in  his  parish,  had  held  confirmation, 
and  had  celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  now  thought  it 
proper  again  to  spend  a  season  of  three  months  with  the  New 
York  and  Hackensack  Lutherans,  who  were  anxiously  wait- 
ing for  his  return.  His  family,  much  distressed  about  another 
proposed  and  protracted  absence,  remained  at  Providence. 
He  left  them  and  other  friends  May  4th,  came  by  way  of 
Germantown  (where  Handschuh  was  settled)  to  Philadelphia, 
embarked  here  on  the  6th,  found  on  board  of  the  vessel  a 
number  of  blasphemous,  disgusting  companions,  but  learned 
"  that  a  Christian  can  preserve  and  enjoy  peace  of  soul  and 
the  comforts  of  the  Holy  Spirit  even  in  the  midst  of  a  set  of 
devils,"  and  on  May  9th  arrived  at  New  York,  again  taking 
his  lodgings  in  the  parsonage.  The  news  of  his  arrival  pro- 
duced much  joy  among  the  friends  at  New  York  and  Hack- 
ensack, as  the  many  visitors  who  came  to  greet  the  long- 
desired  stranger  clearly  indicated.  Some  thought  that  now 
he  would  make  his  home  permanently  with  them,  and  were 


288  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

sadly  disappointed  when  in  his  first  sermon  (May  loth)  he 
informed  them  that  he  had  left  his  congregation  in  Pennsyl- 
vania only  to  visit  them  for  a  time.  Having  preached  in  the 
morning  in  Dutch,  in  the  afternoon  in  German,  he  was  toward 
evening  called  away  to  see  the  same  Mr.  Van  Buskirk  whom 
he  had  visited  the  preceding  year,  and  who  was  still  a  sufferer 
and  growing  weaker  and  weaker.  On  Monday,  Miihlenberg 
held  services  with  the  sick  friend  and  his  family,  and  with 
members  of  the  Lutheran  Church  and  others  living  in  that 
neighborhood.  In  the  afternoon  the  only  son  of  the  family 
brought  Miihlenberg  back  to  New  York.  As  he  was  more 
than  thirty  years  of  age,  had  crossed  the  sea,  and  had  not 
yet  been  received  by  the  rite  of  confirmation  into  Lutheran 
church-membership,  he  was  the  object  of  Miihlenberg's  solici- 
tude and  admonition. 

And  now  during  the  three  months  of  May,  June,  and  July, 
to  Aug.  3d,  Muhlenberg  again  devoted  his  time  and  his 
strength  to  the  Dutch  Lutheran  congregations  at  New  York 
and  Hackensack,  and  infused  new  vitality  into  those  flocks, 
a  long  time  neglected  and  dispersed,  but  once  more  animated 
by  new  energy  and  hope.  He  pursued  the  course  he  had 
taken  the  preceding  year.  The  question  of  uniting  the  Dutch 
and  the  German  congregations  was  no  longer  agitated.  It  was 
brought  up  again  at  a  later  period,  and  finally,  in  1785,  the 
two  congregations  were  united  under  the  auspices  of  Miihl- 
enberg's son-in-law,  the  Rev.  John  Christopher  Kunze,  D.  D., 
who  in  1784  was  called  to  New  York  by  numbers  of  both 
congregations. 

Miihlenberg  again  found  it  necessary  to  preach  in  the 
New  York  church  in  Dutch,  in  German,  and  in  English.  To 
facilitate  the  singing,  he  allowed  each  party  to  use  its  own 
hymn-book.  The  natives  of  Holland  could  not  always  find 
hymns  and  melodies  adapted  to  the  hymns  which  the  Ger- 
mans sang,  following  the  Marburg  hymn-book.  Of  one  Ger- 
man hymn  Muhlenberg  made  a  translation  into  Dutch,  which 
was  very  welcome  to  the  members ;  he  gave  it  to  them  in  his 
translation  line  after  line.  He  announced  one  Sunday  (June 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  289 

1st)  that  on  the  following  Sunday  he  would  begin  to  catechise 
also  the  adult  membership — an  exercise  to  which  we  formerly 
alluded,  and  one  which  was  not  at  all  uncommon  in  those 
days  and  is  to  be  commended  for  various  reasons.  This 
caused  the  oldest  member  of  the  congregation — a  man  nearly 
eighty  years  of  age — to  come  to  the  pastor,  and,  while  con- 
fessing his  embarrassment,  to  declare  that  in  his  old  days  he 
could  no  longer  publicly  repeat  the  Catechism  and  was  afraid 
the  young  people  might  laugh  at  his  mistakes.  Miihlenberg, 
while  reminding  him  of  the  fact  that  even  the  learned  and 
great  Dr.  Luther  had  never  been  without  his  Catechism,  and 
in  advanced  years  daily  studied  and  repeated  it,  comforted  the 
old  brother  and  told  him  that  if  he  were  in  a  condition  of  grace 
and  a  new  life  he  might  answer  from  his  personal  experience. 
The  following  Sunday,  after  the  afternoon  sermon,  Miihlen- 
berg  began  the  promised  catechization,  and  promiscuously 
asked  old  and  young  with  a  view  to  remove  their  bashfulness. 
He  had  also  a  class  of  catechumens,  who  on  Saturday,  Aug. 
1st,  were  examined  and  confirmed,  and  on  the  following  day 
admitted  to  the  Lord's  Supper.  It  may  be  worth  while  here 
to  introduce  an  item  which  may  seem  in  itself  to  be  of  little 
importance,  but  is  indicative  of  the  impression  Miihlenberg 
was  enabled  to  make  upon  persons  apparently  having  no 
share  in  his  sympathies.  He  had  preached  (July  28th)  on 
Gal.  vi.  14.  A  female  slave  of  good  report  belonging  to  a 
widow,  a  member  of  the  congregation,  and  in  the  habit  of 
regularly  attending  the  Dutch  and  English  services,  brought 
Miihlenberg  his  dinner  to  his  lodgings.  He  kindly  presented 
her  a  trifling  gift  of  money,  but  could  not  move  her  to  accept 
it.  Having  heard  that  he  was  soon  going  to  leave,  she  began 
to  cry  vehemently  and  thanked  him  for  the  benefit  she  had 
derived  from  his  preaching  and  teaching.  Muhlenberg,  who 
certainly  had  passed  through  many  similar  scenes,  says  that 
"  this  poor  worm  indeed  did  break  his  heart."  The  sympathy 
which  he  felt  for  the  colored  race  is  also  brought  to  light  by 
the  fact  that  when,  in  1745  (Oct.  6th),  the  Augustus  Church 
at  Providence  was  dedicated,  three  negroes,  slaves  of  a  Mr. 

19 


2QO  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Pawling,  were  on  that  solemn  occasion  publicly  examined  as 
to  their  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  then  baptized.  Miihlenberg  had  taken  the  trou- 
ble properly  to  prepare  them  for  this  rite  by  the  necessary 
instruction. 

During  his  sojourn  at  New  York  in  1752,  Miihlenberg  paid 
three  visits  to  the  Hackensack  congregation,  and  continued 
there  the  good  work  begun  the  year  before.  May  2ist-28th, 
June  i6th-23d,  July  I7th-23d,  he  spent  there  with  the  Lu- 
therans, who  "by  his  repeated  visits  were  greatly  refreshed  and 
encouraged.  He  lodged  at  the  house  of  a  member  of  the 
congregation,  Lawrence  van  Buskirk.  There  he  began  (May 
25th)  his  instructions  to  a  class  of  catechumens.  He  pre- 
ferred to  do  this  service — at  least,  in  the  beginning — in  a  pri- 
vate room,  knowing  that  the  young  people  were  still  ignorant 
and  bashful,  and  no  less  than  the  older  ones  averse  to  being 
exposed  to  criticism  before  the  public.  He  states  that  he  did 
not  find  them  advanced  enough  in  their  knowledge  of  the 
truths  of  Christianity  when  he  administered  the  Lord's  Supper 
(June  2 1st)  to  the  congregation;  he  consequently  delayed 
their  confirmation  until  some  future  occasion.  He  confirmed,' 
however,  after  proper  examination,  one  man  advanced  in  age 
who  had  given  sufficient  evidence  of  his  acquaintance  with 
Christian  truth,  and  it  would  have  been  improper  not  to 
admit  him  on  this  occasion — the  first  time — to  the  holy 
sacrament. 

There  was  at  Hackensack,  as  we  found  in  the  preceding 
year  and  during  the  first  visit  of  Miihlenberg,  a  Reformed 
pastor  who,  touched  by  the  religious  excitement  of  those 
times  under  the  leadership  of  Whitefield,  had  caused  a  spir- 
itual awakening  among  many  members  of  his  congregation, 
while  his  elder  colleague  did  not  join  in  the  spirit  and  the 
measures  of  his  younger  brother.  It  was  the  age  in  which 
Methodism  and  its  methods  had  begun  to  exert  an  influence 
throughout  the  land  and  considerably  to  agitate  the  minds 
of  religious  people.  In  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  New 
York,  in  New  Jersey,  and  in  Pennsylvania  it  produced  a 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  291 

great  commotion  and  caused  a  division  which  lasted  for 
many  years.  It  very  much  disturbed  the  Episcopal  Church 
in  various  localities,  especially  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 
There  were  many  discussions  occasioned,  and  party  lines 
were  drawn  between  the  conservatives  and  the  revivalists, 
who  were  aggressors.  That  there  was  need  of  a  spiritual 
awakening  in  many  places  can  hardly  be  denied.  Whitefield 
and  Methodism  had  in  America  a  mission  to  fulfil  as  certainly 
as  had  Ph.  J.  Spener  and  Pietism  in  Germany.  '  But,  while 
there  was  on  each  side  much  that  could  be  commended,  there 
was  also  much  that  was  not  gold,  but  dross.  Deadness  and 
formalism  are  certainly  undesirable  representatives  of  Chris- 
tianity, but  a  religion  with  no  better  foundation  than  the 
transient  and  more  or  less  artificial  excitement  of  the  feel- 
ings becomes  a  contemptible  failure  in  the  daily  trials,  labors, 
and  conflicts  of  our  moral  and  social  life.  A  truly  godly  life 
can  proceed  only  from  a  sound  equipoise  of  all  the  vital 
forces  which  constitute  man's  higher  nature.  It  appears 
that  the  zeal  of  the  younger  pastor  of  the  Reformed  peo- 
ple at  Hackensack  had  led  him  to  encourage  measures 
which  seriously  affected  the  peace  and  the  harmony  of  the 
congregation.  "  He  had,."  Miihlenberg  narrates,  "  advised 
those  who  were  spiritually  awakened  to  meet  among  them- 
selves from  week  to  week  and  to  hold  devotional  exercises. 
His  intentions  were  undoubtedly  good,  but,  as  he  did  not 
regularly  attend,  various  disorders  crept  in.  They  attempt- 
ed at  every  meeting  to  interpret  and  apply  a  chapter  of  the 
Bible,  which  was  beyond  their  ability;  they  used,  in  praying, 
terms  of  an  offensive  character,  set  up  a  false  standard  of 
regeneration,  and  looked  for  extraordinary  or  supernatural 
things.  One  of  the  consequences  of  such  assumptions  was  a 
hasty  judgment  and  condemnation  of  those  who  did  not 
experience  the  same  state  of  feelings.  In  the  end  the 
Reformed  congregation  was  divided,  bitter  enmities  arose 
between  the  members,  and  sins  were  committed  on  each 
side.  Those  who  thought  themselves  in  a  state  of  grace 
considered  all  those  who  did  not  belong  to  their  circle 


292  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

publicans  and  sinners,  and  the  elder  pastor  a  dead  literalist, 
while  they  were  called  by  the  old  conservative  party  Phari- 
sees, enthusiasts,  etc.  Our  people  held  their  peace  during 
this  turmoil,  though  some  became  so  entangled  as  to  give  as- 
sent to  one  or  the  other  party.  Those  awakened  had  claimed 
my  authority  in  their  favor,  and  said  they  wished  to  hear  my 
opinion ;  the  other  party  also  were  curious  to  learn  what  I 
would  say.  Wherever  I  went  the  talk  was  about  these 
measures  and  exercises,  and  my  opinion  was  asked.  I  an- 
swered that,  according  to  the  word  of  God,  services  held 
for  the  increase  of  godliness  were  necessary  and  useful,  pro- 
vided they  were  conducted  in  the  presence  of  experienced 
teachers  and  pastors,  for  the  honor  of  God,  the  best  interests 
of  the  Church,  the  advantage  of  our  fellow-men,  and  the 
edification  of  awakened  souls." 

June  24th,  Hartwig,  ever  ready  to  travel,  came  to  see  Miihl- 
enberg,  who  then  was  indisposed,  and  while  (Friday,  June 
26th)  seeking  relief  by  bleeding  himself  was  interrupted  by 
another  sudden  visitor  and  forgot  to  stop  in  proper  time  the 
flow  of  blood.  In  consequence  of  this  accident  he  was  so 
much  reduced  that  he  could  hardly  deliver  one  sermon  on 
Sunday,  June  28th,  in  the  forenoon.  The  elders  of  the  con- 
gregation this  time  raised  no  objections  to  Hartwig's  preach- 
ing German  in  the  afternoon  and  English  in  the  evening. 
Berkenmeier  had  died  in  the  fall  of  1751. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  Tuesday,  July  28th,  another  visit- 
or, Rev.  Michael  Schlatter,  whom  we  have  met  before,  and 
who  to  some  extent  held  the  same  relation  to  the  German 
Reformed  Church  in  Pennsylvana  as  Miihlenberg  held  to 
the  German  Lutheran  Church,  pleasantly  surprised  his  friend 
Muhlenberg.  Schlatter,  born  of  pious  parents  July  14,  1716, 
at  St.  Gallen  in  Switzerland,  received  his  education  partly  in 
the  scholastic  institution  of  his  native  place,  partly  at  the 
University  of  Helmstedt  in  the  duchy  of  Brunswick,  where 
he  sojourned  for  a  short  time,  partly  in  Holland,  where  he 
was  also  employed  as  a  teacher  and  finally  received  holy 
orders.  For  a  short  time  he  served  (1745-46)  as  assistant 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  293 

pastor  at  Wigoldingen,  Canton  Thurgau,  in  Switzerland,  then 
in  a  suburb  of  his  native  place,  but,  being  of  a  roving  dispo- 
sition (which  word  we  here  use  in  the  best  sense),  he  again 
came  to  Holland  in  1746.  Learning  of  the  spiritually  des- 
titute condition  of  the  members  of  his  household  of  faith,  of 
whom  many  successive  thousands  had  emigrated  from  Switz- 
erland and  Germany  to  America,  and  especially  to  Pennsyl- 
vania— moved,  also,  by  the  active  sympathy  which  was  felt 
for  those  emigrants  among  the  congregations  of  Holland,  and 
furnished  by  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  with  testimonials 
and  instructions — he  embarked  June  I,  1746,  landed  Aug.  ist 
at  Boston,  and  Sept.  6th  reached  Philadelphia,  at  that  time 
a  town  of  about  ten  thousand  inhabitants.  The  old  frame 
building  in  which,  before  the  erection  of  St.  Michael's  Church, 
Lutherans  and  Reformed  alternately  worshipped  is  already 
known  to  us.  Rev.  J.  Ph.  Boehm  presided  at  that  time  over 
the  Reformed  congregation.  With  his  consent,  Schlatter 
(Sept.  1 6,  1746)  united  the  Reformed  congregations  at  Phila- 
delphia and  at  Germantown  into  one  charge.  Oct.  n,  1747, 
he  married  a  daughter  of  Henry  Schleydorn,  well  known  to 
us  as  a  faithful  and  active  member  of  the  German  Lutheran 
congregation  and  as  a  warm  friend  of  Miihlenberg.  This 
may  have  given  occasion  to  a  more  intimate  acquaintance 
between  the  two  representatives  of  the  two  confessions  of 
faith.  Schlatter  was  an  open-hearted,  honest,  straightfor- 
ward man — qualities  which  gained  him  the  respect  of  Miihl- 
enberg— but  he  was  more  an  agitator  than  an  organizer, 
and  his  zeal  sometimes  lacked  judgment  and  involved  him, 
at  various  periods  of  his  life,  in  considerable  difficulties. 
During  the  summer  of  1747  and  in  the  following  years  he 
visited  many  localities  in  Pennsylvania  and  encouraged  con- 
gregations and  pastors  to  form  a  synod,  the  first  meeting  of 
which  was  held  Sept.  29,  1747,  at  Philadelphia.  After  a  most 
sad  experience  in  his  pastoral  life  at  Philadelphia,  furnished 
by  his  own  ministry  and  by  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  with  excellent  testimonials  as  to  his  character,  he 
embarked  Feb.  5,  1751,  for  Europe  to  lay  the  condition  of 


294  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

the  Reformed  Church  and  congregations  before  the  author- 
ities of  the  Reformed  Church  of  Holland,  and  to,  implore 
their  sympathy  and  assistance.  Having  been  quite  successful 
in  this,  in  the  following  year  he  returned  to  America,  and, 
hearing  of  Miihlenberg's  presence  at  New  York,  where  he 
landed,  he  on  that  28th  of  July  at  once  went  to  see  him. 
With  him  had  come  six  missionaries  intended  for  the  des- 
titute congregations  of  the  Reformed  faith.  Introduced  to 
them,  Miihlenberg  greeted  them  with  the  words,  "  Behold, 
I  send  you  forth  as  sheep  into  the  midst  of  wolves ;  be  ye 
therefore  wise  as  serpents  and  harmless  as  doves."  About 
his  first  acquaintance  with  Miihlenberg,  Schlatter  says  in  his 
diary:  "  On  the  I5th  of  Oct.  [1746],  having  humbly  sought 
the  guidance  and  blessing  of  God  to  prosper  me  on  my  way, 
I  travelled  from  Philadelphia  to  Providence — a  distance  of 
thirty  miles — and  visited  the  Rev.  H.  M.  Miihlenberg,  the 
first  Lutheran  preacher  in  this  country,  who  in  the  year  1742 
was  sent  hither  by  the  Very  Rev.  Court-Preacher  Ziegenha- 
gen  of  London  on  nearly  the  same  footing  with  myself,  and 
for  the  same  object.  I  found  it  expedient  to  seek  an  under- 
standing as  to  how  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  act  toward  them 
in  reference  to  the  frequent  intermarriages  of  these  two  denomi- 
nations in  these  regions.  His  Reverence  received  us  with  all 
possible  affection  and  brotherly  kindness,  commended  himself 
and  his  brethren  to  our  friendship,  and  desired  that  we  might 
dwell  together  in  neighborly  unity  and  peace ;  which  fellow- 
ship also  has  been  preserved  sacred  and  inviolate  during  the 
whole  time  I  have  been  in  Pennsylvania."  On  various  occa- 
sions Schlatter  expresses  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  at  all 
times  held  Miihlenberg.  His  public  life  caused  him  many 
severe  trials  and  afflictions.  His  relation  to  the  synod  of  the 
Reformed  Church  becoming  disturbed  in  1756,  in  1757  he 
accepted  a  chaplaincy  in  the  British  army  in  the  American 
provinces.  Ceasing  to  perform  the  duties  of  this  office  two 
years  later,  he  resided  with  his  family  through  many  years 
at  Chestnut  Hill,  near  Philadelphia,  on  a  farm  called  by  him 
Sweetland.  At  the  same  time  he  served  congregations  at 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  295 

Barren  Hill,  Franklinville,  and  other  neighboring  localities. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  War  of  Independence  he  again  acted 
as  chaplain  of  the  British  army,  but  in  a  short  time  espoused 
the  American  cause,  and  in  September,  1777,  when  the  British 
invaded  Germantown,  disobeying  orders,  he  was  at  once  im- 
prisoned and  his  house  was  ransacked.  Returning,  after  his 
release,  to  the  country,  he  lived  in  a  small  house  not  far  dis- 
tant from  his  former  residence.  There  he  died,  it  is  reported, 
in  the  latter  part  of  October,  1790,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four 
years  and  three  months. 

Miihlenberg  knew  that  in  case  of  his  return  to  Pennsyl- 
vania the  progress  and  the  very  existence  of  the  congrega- 
tions which  he  served  at  New  York  and  Hackensack  would 
be  put  in  jeopardy.  When  he  held  (June  nth)  a  vestry-meet- 
ing at  his  lodgings  in  the  parsonage  at  New  York,  the  elders 
and  deacons  entreated  him  not  to  forsake  them.  They  bagged 
him  to  stay  with  them — at  least  until  an  answer  would  come 
from  the  Fathers  and  the  question  whether  he  could  not 
permanently  locate  in  their  midst  would  finally  be  decided. 
They  then  did  not  know  that  the  Fathers  did  not  look  with 
favor  upon  their  petition.  They  insisted  upon  it  that  in 
case  Miihlenberg  left  them  some  other  of  the  Pennsylvania 
pastors  should  continue  his  work  among  them.  Miihlenberg 
corresponded,  therefore,  with  his  colaborers  in  Pennsylvania. 
For  a  time  Schrenk  and  Raus  were  intended  as  his  success- 
ors, but  both  refused  to  undertake  the  work.  Finally,  a  call 
was  given  to  Weygand,  at  that  time  serving  the  Raritan  con- 
gregations. He  began  his  labors  at  New  York  in  the  spring 
of  1753,  and  continued  them  until  1767. 

In  1751  six  months  were  granted  by  synod  to  Miihlenberg 
to  -absent  himself  from  Pennsylvania  and  to  serve  the  Luther- 
an cause  at  New  York.  During  1751  and  1752  he  had  made 
the  best  use  of  that  permission,  and  the  time  for  his  return  to 
the  ordinary  field  of  his  labors  was  at  hand.  His  farewell  to 
the  congregations  and  the  friends  at  Hackensack  and  New 
York  was  very  painful,  and  called  forth  many  a  tear  from 
those  who  had  been  benefited  by  his  services,  who  had  learned 


296  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF  ' 

to  esteem  and  to  love  him  as  a  Christian  friend,  and  who  for 
ever  kept  him  in  loving  remembrance.  His  labors  in  that 
field  had  indeed  come  to  an  end,  and,  while  always  taking  a 
deep  interest  in  the  progress  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  those 
parts,  he  never  reappeared  in  New  York  in  an  official  capacity. 
Aug.  3d  he  departed.  On  that  day  the  whole  vestry,  many 
members  of  the  two  congregations,  and  other  friends  came 
once  more  to  see  him.  Hartwig  also  did  not  allow  this  occa- 
sion to  pass  without  making  his  appearance. 

After  a  dangerous  and  very  disagreeable  voyage,  because 
of  wicked  and  disgusting  company  which  could  not  be 
avoided,  Miihlenberg  arrived  at  Philadelphia  (Aug.  6th). 
Having  again  entered  upon  his  labors  in  his  congregations, 
he  continued  his  pastoral  work  with  unabated  fervor  and 
energy.  He  tells  us  that  from  the  New  Year  of  1751  to  the 
New  Year  of  1755  he  baptized,  in  the  congregations  of  Prov- 
idence and  New  Hanover,  three  hundred  and  ninety-one  per- 
sons, twenty-five  of  whom  were  adults,  who  before  being  bap- 
tized had  made  public  profession  of  the  Christian  faith ;  also 
that  during  the  same  period  one  hundred  and  forty-eight 
persons  had  received  catechetical  instruction  and  been  re- 
ceived into  membership  of  the  Church  by  the  rite  of  con- 
firmation. 

But  those  years  proved  to  .be  years  of  great  tribulation  to 
Miihlenberg  and  to  his  brethren.  A  good  work  had  been 
begun.  "  It  had,  under  divine  blessing,  been  successfully 
carried  forward.  The  synod  had  been  organized  and  yearly 
meetings  were  held.  Congregations  had  been  properly  or- 
ganized, and  already  in  1752  eight  ordained  pastors  and  two 
catechists  were  in  active  service.  A  happy  influence  was 
exercised  over  a  field  extending  from  the  Maryland  frontier 
to  New  York  and  the  Upper  Hudson.  Regular  services  were 
held  in  a  considerable  number  of  congregations ;  in  various 
places  the  children  were  gathered  into  parochial  schools; 
churches,  school-houses,  parsonages,  had  been  erected ;  and 
the  Lutherans  gave  pleasing  signs  of  a  healthy  and  hopeful 
vitality." 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  297 

But  there  were  "breakers  ahead,"  and  the  outlook  became — 
at  least,  for  a  time — rather  gloomy.  The  causes  of  this  state 
of  affairs,  which  brought  much  care  and  grief  to  the  hearts 
of  Miihlenberg  and  his  colaborers,  were  in  part  of  a  gen- 
eral, in  part  of  a  local,  character.  During  a  number  of  years 
immigration  from  Germany  had  amazingly  increased.  More 
than  seven  thousand  Germans  arrived,  as  we  formerly  had 
occasion  to  state,  in  the  fall  of  1749;  during  the  summer  of 
that  year,  twelve  thousand.  Immigration  continued  on  a 
large  scale  until  the  breaking  out  of  the  Seven  Years'  War. 
It  was  reported  that  in  one  autumn  twelve  parochial  teachers 
arrived,  hoping  to  find  employment  in  church  or  in  school. 
A  number  of  pastors  also  came,  offering  their  services  to  con- 
gregations, but  not  being  desirous  of  joining  the  synod.  There 
were,  as  we  mentioned  above,  some  years  of  great  prosperity 
and  an  abundance  of  provisions ;  but  the  wheat — not  used  as 
bread,  but  distilled  into  whiskey — proved  to  many  a  curse 
instead  of  a  blessing.  Manners  deteriorated  among  the  masses 
of  the  people.  Intemperance  and  sensual  extravagance  be- 
.came  rampant.  Marriage  celebrations  especially  gave  occa- 
sion for  terrible  irregularities,  and  even  funerals  were  often 
conducted  in  a  most  scandalous  and  offensive  manner  and 
changed  into  carousals.  Many  of  the  new-comers  were  exces- 
sively carnal-minded.  In  a  letter  of  1754,  Miihlenberg  says 
that  Pennsylvania  became  surfeited  with  people  of  all  sorts 
and  from  all  lands.  He  continues  :  "  It  teems  with  a  wicked, 
frivolous  rabble  and  vagabond  preachers  and  students,  and  the 
devil  is  raging  and  carrying  on  his  slanders  and  calumnies 
against  the  poor  Hallenses." 


298  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

1752  et  seq.  (continued). 

Difficulties  arising. — Pietism  in  conflict  with  carnal-mindedness. — Handschuh's 
unfortunate  marriage  at  Lancaster. — He  enters  upon  his  new  field  of  labor  at 
Germantown. — Impediments  in  his  way. — Disturbances  in  the  congregation. — 
Rebellion  against  Handschuh  and  synod. — He  retires  with  a  small  number 
of  the  faithful. — The  congregation  cut  loose  from  synod. — They  are  as- 
sisted by  Tob.  Wagner. — Danger  of  the  spread  of  the  rebellion. — Disturb- 
ances at  York. — J.  Sam.  Schwerdfeger. — J.  H.  Schaum  leaves  York;  his 
further  career  and  death. — Rev.  J.  S.  Gerock  of  Wiirtemberg  accepted  by  the 
Lancaster  congregation ;  his  further  career. — Rev.  B.  M.  Hausihl. — Muhlen- 
berg  again  visits  Frederick,  Md. — Rev.  J.  F.  Schertlin. — Miihlenberg  pays 
another  visit  to  New  York. — Transient  difficulties  in  the  Raritan  congrega- 
tions.— Miihlenberg  restores  peace  and  greatly  encourages  them  by  repeated 
visits. — William  Kurtz. — William  Graaf. — Jacob  van  Buskirk. — Muhlenberg 
at  Hackensack  and  Remmerspach. 

WE  can  easily  understand  that  the  pastors,  coming  from 
the  school  of  Halle,  were  disliked  by  that  large  class  * 
of  people  who  externally,  perhaps,  were  members  of  the  Church 
and  the  congregation,  but  retained  their  worldly-mindedness 
and  their  religious  indifference.  For  such  the  path,  as  those 
pastors  delineated  it  for  the  benefit  of  Christians  and  as  it 
is  pointed  out  in  the  word  of  God,  was  entirely  too  nar- 
row. The  intruders  into  the  pastoral  office  accommodated 
themselves  without  any  compunction  to  the  carnal  lusts  of 
the  people,  and,  as  a  consequence,  godly,  faithful  laborers  in 
that  difficult  field  met  with  abundant  odium.  In  a  letter  of 
Aug.  14,  1753,  addressed  to  Ziegenhagen  in  London,  Muhl- 
enberg says  :  "  As  there  are  now  in  Pennsylvania  so  many 
who  expect  to  be  called  to  pastoral  charges  and  find  their 
bread,  as  even  in  our  united  congregations  there  are  so  many 
disaffected  to  whom  the  preaching  of  repentance,  faith,  godli- 
ness is  vexatious  and  disgusting,  and  as  there  are  members 
of  congregations  and  self-appointed  pastors  with  whom  we  do 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  299 

not  associate  outside  of  our  united  congregations, — it  can 
easily  be  seen  what  a  formidable  and  abnormal  constellation 
must  exist  under  such  circumstances.  At  the  present  time 
old  and  young  self-appointed  pastors,  offended  keepers  of 
inns  and  groceries,  silversmiths  and  beerhouse  fiddlers,  dan- 
cing-masters, entire  companies  of  recently-arrived  Nethinim 
(i  Chron.  ix.  2),  and  the  insane  rabble  of  Sichem  (Sirach  1. 
28),  gather  together,  throw  dust  into  the  air,  and  raise,  with 
their  cursing  and  blaspheming,  such  a  confusion  that  the 
town-clerk  himself  might  be  perplexed  (Acts  xix.  23-40). 
The  sum  and  substance  amounts  to  this :  we  are  called  Halle 
Pietists,  Moravian  rogues,  impostors,  thieves  of  collection- 
moneys,  etc.  etc.  The  German  newspapers  supplement  the 
deficiencies  of  this  fermentation.  The  civil  authorities  in  this 
free  latitude  cannot  take  any  steps  in  our  behalf  unless  there 
should  be  gross  acts  of  violence  and  personal  injury;  law- 
yers look  upon  us  with  contempt,  since  we  have  no  money 
to  engage  their  services."  We  might  quote  from  Muhlenberg 
stronger  expressions  of  a  similar  character,  but  these  are 
sufficient.  In  these  remarks  he  had  in  view  especially  one 
extremely  sad  experience,  which  now  claims  our  attention. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  soon  after  his  arrival  in  this 
country  Rev.  J.  Fr.  Handschuh  began  his  labors  at  Lancaster. 
His  ministry,  as  it  appears,  was  for  some  time  quite  accept- 
able to  the  congregation,  which  had  gone  through  a  hard 
struggle  in  consequence  of  Nyberg's  Moravian  intrigues. 
Handschuh  lived  for  a  time  as  a  bachelor  in  quiet  retirement, 
lacking,  however,  in  his  weak  and  sickly  condition,  that  atten- 
tion which  as  a  married  man  he  would  have  enjoyed.  He 
finally  took  to  his  house  as  a  servant  the  daughter  of  one 
of  the  deacons  of  his  congregation.  With  this  step,  as  it 
appears,  nobody  found  fault ;  but  trouble  began  when,  after 
some  time,  Handschuh  told  his  servant  that  it  seemed  to  him 
to  be  God's  will  that  he  should  marry  her,  and  she,  after  some 
hours  of  deliberation,  arrived  at  the  same  conclusion.  Nothing 
could  justly  be  said  against  the  moral  character  of  the  young 
woman,  but  that  she,  who  had  formerly  kept  a  cake-stand  in 


3OO  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

the  public  market  at  Lancaster,  as  was  known  to  the  whole 
town,  and  whose  education  and  social  position  were  certainly 
not  of  a  high  order,  should  now  be  called  u  Frau  Pastor," — 
this  was  more  than  the  ruling  portion  of  the  congregation 
could  tolerate :  such  a  marriage  seemed  to  be  derogatory  to 
the  dignity  of  the  pastor  and  to  the  social  demands  of  his 
office.  As  was  to  be  expected,  much  unfriendly  and  wholly 
unwarranted  talk  ensued  among  the  frivolous  outsiders.  The 
union  between  Handschuh  and  his  espoused  caused  a  rupture 
between  him  and  the  congregation.  Muhlenberg  at  once  fore- 
saw this  when  he  heard  of  Handschuh's  intentions.  His 
knowledge  of  the  world  made  him  fear  the  consequences. 
Being  invited,  however,  to  participate  in  the  marriage  solem- 
nities, he,  Brunnholtz,  and  Kurtz  repaired  in  proper  time  to 
Lancaster.  On  May  I,  1750,  the  ceremony  took  place.  Brunn- 
holtz in  vain  made  endeavors,  before  Miihlenberg's  arrival, 
to  pacify  the  congregation.  Most  of  the  vestrymen  felt  very 
indignant,  and  would  not  change  their  opinions.  When, 
on  the  wedding-day,  the  pastors,  with  Handschuh  and  the 
bride,  went  to  the  church,  not  one  of  all  the  dissatisfied  party 
was  visible,  and  Muhlenberg,  in  his  description  of  the  trans- 
action, quotes  from  2  Sam.  xix.  3  :  "  And  the  people  got  them 
by  stealth  that  day  into  the  city,  as  people  being  ashamed 
steal  away  when  they  flee  in  battle."  Under  such  circum- 
stances the  joy  of  the  day  was  considerably  chilled.  The 
greater  evil  was  the  disrespect  into  which  Handschuh  fell 
among  the  members  of  his  own  congregation.  Older  and 
socially-prominent  persons  came  rarely  to  the  public  ser- 
vices, and  it  became  apparent  that  in  this  locality  another 
pastor  was  needed.  Handschuh  bade  farewell  to  Lancaster 
.on  the  fourth  Sunday  after  Easter,  1751,  and  soon  after  Whit- 
sunday began  his  services  in  the  congregation  at  Germantown, 
which  up  to  that  time,  with  Philadelphia,  had  been  under  the 
care  of  Brunnholtz,  for  whom,  on  account  of  his  impaired 
health,  the  labor  in  both  these  congregations  had  by  degrees 
become  too  heavy,  especially  since  the  Philadelphia  member- 
ship was  rapidly  increasing. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  30! 

In  Germantown  an  enlargement  of  the  church-building  was 
in  1746  found  necessary.  Thirty  feet  were  added  to  the  length, 
six  to  the  width,  of  the  structure.  The  corner-stone  was  laid 
April  15,  1746.  Pews  were  placed  in  the  building,  and  a  sac- 
risty was  added  in  1750.  In  1752  a  parsonage  was  bought 
The  church,  as  we  have  already  learned,  was  solemnly  dedi- 
cated Oct.  i,  1752.  The  congregation,  in  consequence  of  the 
increase  of  German  immigration,  gained  in  numerical  strength, 
but  in  other  respects  the  increase  was  entirely  disadvantageous. 
In  addition  to  the  contributions  of  the  members  necessary  for 
building  expenses,  material  assistance  came  from  Germany. 
A  donation  of  three  hundred  florins  was  sent  by  the  eccle- 
siastical authorities  of  the  duchy  of  Wurtemberg,  and  one 
hundred  and  seven  pounds  came  from  Hesse-Darmstadt,  one- 
half  of  which  was  given  to  Germantown,  the  other  half  to  the 
Philadelphia  congregation,  which  also  was  heavily  in  debt. 
Concerning  the  inner  condition  of  the  Germantown  congre- 
gation Brunnholtz  says,  in  a  letter  dated  May  21,  1750,  that, 
on  account  of  discord  prevailing  in  the  vestry,  he  had  had 
more  trouble  with  Germantown  than  with  Philadelphia.  His 
general  remarks  about  the  increase  of  indolence,  insubordina- 
tion, carnal  security,  covetousness,  drunkenness,  and  all  sorts 
of  vices  everywhere  at  that  time  applied  also  to  German- 
town. 

Under  such  circumstances  Handschuh  entered  upon  his 
labors  in  that  field.  In  Lancaster  he  had  made  efforts  to 
introduce  strict  measures  of  church  discipline.  His  sincer- 
ity we  cannot  for  a  moment  doubt,  but  of  his  judiciousness 
we  are  not  so  sure.  We  call  it  a  measure  of  doubtful  wisdom 
that  he  expected  every  member  to  report  to  him  any  serious 
offence  he  or  she  might  discover  in  the  conduct  of  another. 
He  judged  others  by  his  own  personal  very  Pietistic  standard. 
His  scrupulosity  was  not  calculated  to  make  much  impression 
upon  people  of  low  education  and  totally  different  sentiments, 
feelings,  and  habits.  But  his  character  and  his  conduct  were 
above  reproach. 

Even  before  the  synod  met  in    1752  at  Germantown  an 


3O2  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

agitation  began  in  an  underhanded  way  to  distract  the  congre- 
gation. A  very  trifling  circumstance  a  short  time  afterward 
caused  a  most  unfortunate  disturbance.  An  alms-bag  to  which 
small  bells  were  attached  was  habitually  used  during  public 
services  to  collect  the  charitable  gifts.  An  elder  who  had 
been  ridiculed  on  account  of  the  bells  by  a  member  of  one 
of  the  many  Pennsylvania  sects  innocently  took  it  upon  him- 
self to  cut  off  those  bells :  this  the  irritated  and  discontented 
interpreted  as  an  undue  liberty  on  the  part  of  a  vestryman. 
Unfortunately,  the  spirit  of  contention  broke  out  also  among 
the  church-officers,  and  it  was  soon  apparent  that  there  was  a 
strong  party  in  favor  of  a  radical  change  in  the  government 
of  the  congregation.  By  the  leaders  of  this  party  Handschuh 
-was  requested  during  public  services  to  read  a  document  in 
which  the  vestry  were  calumniated,  and  even  accused  of  gross 
misdeeds.  Handschuh  refused  to  comply  with  the  request — 
a  refusal  which,  though  perfectly  correct,  could  only  make 
matters  worse.  One  of  the  elders  who  in  that  document  had 
been  accused  of  theft  began  a  lawsuit  against  his  calumni- 
ators. The  agitators  wanted  to  oust  the  vestry  then  in  office, 
but  some  of  its  members,  on  account  of  the  rebuilding  of  the 
church  and  the  debts  incurred  thereby,  were  personally  re- 
sponsible for  the  payment  and  under  legal  bonds  to  the 
amount  of  four  hundred  pounds. 

In  January,  1753,  by  request,  Miihlenberg  was  present  with 
Brunnholtz  and  Handschuh  at  Germantown  when  the  yearly 
account  was  presented  to  the  congregation,  on  which  occasion 
a  sharp  altercation  again  took  place  between  the  representa- 
tives of  the  two  parties.  At  the  request  of  the  conservative 
elders  and  deacons  Handschuh  had  framed  certain  articles 
to  be  subscribed  by  all  the  members  of  the  congregation  for 
the  promotion  of  peace  and  harmony.  Muhlenberg  says  that 
he  had  found  no  time  properly  to  make  himself  acquainted 
with  these  articles.  "  In  fact,"  he  says,  "  we  were  not  wise 
enough  to  frame  articles  which  in  that  critical  period  would 
have  been  accepted  without  protest."  About  eighteen  mem- 
bers subscribed  Handschuh's  articles;  the  others  protested. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  303 

Those  members  who  had  subscribed  demanded  that  they 
should  be  publicly  read  on  the  following  Sunday,  and  this 
was  done.  But  the  opposing  party  at  once  protested  against 
two  points — viz.  that  Miihlenberg  and  the  pastors  united  with 
him  be  acknowledged  as  the  legitimately-called  pastors,  and 
that  to  pastors  not  in  that  union  the  church  should  be  closed, 
and  that  the  members  and  their  descendants  for  ever  should 
acknowledge  the  very  reverend  Fathers  at  London  and  Halle 
as  their  superiors  and  benefactors.  Miihlenberg  afterward  told 
Handschuh  that  he  felt  that  the  terms  here  used  were  stronger 
than  those  demanded  by  the  Fathers  themselves.  The  oppo- 
site party  now  framed  another  document,  the  style  of  which 
proved  that  men  more  learned  than  they  had  employed  their 
hands  in  making  it.  It  had  been  circulated  in  taverns  and  in 
private  dwellings,  and  was  covered  with  a  large  number  of 
signatures.  The  reading  of  this  document  during  service, 
which  the  party  demanded,  Handschuh  refused,  because  it 
contained  offensive  terms  against  the  Halle  pastors  and  the 
elders,  but  a  Philadelphia  swaggerer  took  it  upon  himself  to 
recite  it  before  the  congregation.  Handschuh  implored  the 
assembly  to  exercise  some  forbearance,  and  at  the  same  time 
appointed  a  day  for  conference.  In  consequence  of  his  en- 
treaties, Miihlenberg  and  Brunnholtz  were  present  with  him 
and  Schleydorn  at  this  conference.  Handschuh  was  deeply 
distressed,  as  was  Miihlenberg  also,  who,  being  appointed  to 
preach  at  Germantown  Sunday,  Feb.  nth,  was  likewise  great- 
ly embarrassed.  A  large  crowd  assembled — among  them, 
some  dissatisfied  members  of  the  Philadelphia  congregation. 
It  was  rumored  that  a  tumultuous  disturbance  would  occur. 
Before  Miihlenberg  ascended  the  pulpit  the  leaders  of  the 
opposition  demanded  of  him  the  reading  of  their  document ; 
which  demand  he  refused,  but  said  mistakes  had  been  made  on 
each  side,  and  that  both  parties  had  better  reconsider  their  arti- 
cles. After  preaching  and  singing,  the  above-mentioned  Phil- 
adelphian,  Jacob  Baierle,  arose  in  the  gallery  and  began  to  re- 
cite the  document.  Schleydorn,  who  at  once  protested  against 
the  reading,  was  silenced  in  the  roughest  manner.  Miihlen- 


304  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

berg  had  invited  both  parties  to  meet  at  the  parsonage  on  the 
following  day.  The  opponents,  boasting  of  their  one  hundred 
and  thirty  signatures,  wanted  the  whole  difficulty  settled  on 
that  Sunday  afternoon,  but  were  left  alone.  Their  delegates, 
inquiring  at  the  parsonage  as  to  what  the  other  party  had 
to  propose,  were  informed  that  the  accusations  formulated  in 
that  document  against  the  Halle  pastors,  and  including  heresy, 
were  of  such  a  character  that  the  difficulty  must  be  settled 
at  another  place.  Handschuh  and  his  friends  each  contrib- 
uted a  trifling  sum  of  money  to  pay  for  an  application  to  the 
king's  agent  for  his  opinion.  Miihlenberg  was,  however,  on 
second  thought,  moved  to  desist  from  this  plan.  He  knew 
that  the  conservative  party  could  not  raise  the  funds  for  a 
lawsuit ;  he  also  felt  that  it  would  be  better  to  trust  in  God 
than  in  men.  He  saw  that  the  opposing  party  intended  to 
disconnect  themselves  entirely  from  the  united  pastors  and 
have  free  possession  of  the  church,  or  to  leave  the  church, 
with  all  the  debts  resting  on  it,  in  the  hands  of  the  other 
party,  which  was  decidedly  in  the  minority.  To  this  the 
friends  of  Handschuh  were  willing  to  consent,  provided  the 
pastors  and  the  Fathers  in  Europe  would  become  security 
for  a  debt  of  four  hundred  pounds  and  provide  for  the  pas- 
tor's salary.  This  the  pastors  could  not  undertake,  much  less 
the  small,  well-disposed  flock  clinging  to  Handschuh.  The 
heads  of  the  revolutionary  party  hinted  that  they  would  begin 
the  same  agitation  in  all  the  other  synodically-united  congre- 
gations, and  first  at  Philadelphia.  Muhlenberg  saw  that 
Handschuh  could  no  longer  continue  his  labors  under  the 
former  conditions,  and  that  the  opponents,  who  had  an  over- 
whelming majority  on  their  side,  wanted  to  have  no  connec- 
tion any  longer  with  the  Halle  pastors.  He  says  that  he  and 
his  brethren,  Brunnholtz  and  Handschuh,  were  in  great  tribu- 
lation. 

Monday,  Feb.  I2th,  the  heads  of  the  revolutionists  met  at  the 
parsonage  with  the  pastors  and  Messrs.  Schleydorn  and  Fred. 
Marsteller.  They  boldly  declared  that  they  would  have  noth- 
ing further  to  do  with  the  missionaries  from  Halle.  The  pas- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  305 

tors  reminded  them  that  they  were  not  intruders,  but  had 
come  in  consequence  of  repeated  entreaties,  and  declared 
themselves  willing  to  depart,  provided  that  the  regular  call 
handed  in  1743  to  Muhlenberg  by  the  congregation  at  Ger- 
mantown  was  returned  to  him,  and  that  satisfactory  testimo- 
nials concerning  his  and  his  brethren's  official  conduct  were 
granted.  To  this  their  opponents  at  once  consented.  Some 
added  that  Handschuh  might  quit  his  office  that  very  week ; 
others  said  that  he  might  remain  pastor,  provided  he  would 
no  longer  have  intercourse  with  the  other  Halle  pastors,  but 
be  ruled  by  the  party  now  dominant.  The  adherents  of  Hand- 
schuh, when  informed  of  this  compact,  were  dissatisfied,  but 
were  obliged  to  learn  that  things  never  would  have  taken  this 
distressing  turn  if  they  had  formerly  given  their  signatures  to 
articles  of  church-discipline,  as  the  pastor  had  frequently  re- 
quested. The  officers  of  the  conservative  party  now  offered 
their  resignation,  on  condition  of  being  released  from  all  finan- 
cial obligation.  This  proposition  was  accepted,  and  a  formal 
settlement  in  the  presence  of  a  justice  of  the  peace  was  con- 
summated. Handschuh  also  now  handed  in  a  formal  res- 
ignation, after  having  received  testimonials  indorsing  his 
personal  character.  Before  all  was  settled  Brunnholtz  was 
accused  by  one  of  the  opponents,  Matthias  Gaensel,  of  hav- 
ing appropriated  for  the  benefit  of  the  Philadelphia  congrega- 
tion three  hundred  florins  of  the  donation  from  Wiirtemberg, 
the  remittance,  according  to  the  accuser,  having  consisted  of 
six  hundred  florins.  There  was,  of  course,  no  difficulty  in 
procuring  from  Germany  the  official  documents,  properly 
attested,  which  proved  the  untruth  of  the  accusation.  The 
calumniator  escaped  a  severe  judgment  of  the  court  only 
through  the  Christian  clemency  of  Brunnholtz,  m  whom  he 
had  greatly  wronged.  About  twelve  years  later  the  turbu- 
lent Jacob  Baierle  was  obliged  to  thank  Muhlenberg  for  a 
position  which  gave  him  support.  The  party  whose  general 
character  was  represented  by  those  men  were  now  masters  of 
the  situation,  and  called  the  contemptible  Andreae,  and  after 
him  Rapp,  who  for  a  short  time  had  served  the  German  con- 
20 


306  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

gregation  at  New  York,  as  pastors.  Tobias  Wagner,  however, 
had,  after  Handschuh's  resignation,  held  the  first  services  in 
the  old  church,  and  on  several  occasions  celebrated  with  those 
people  the  Lord's  Supper,  thereby  lowering  his  character  and 
showing  a  deep-seated  bitterness  against  Miihlenberg  and  his 
associates.  His  efforts  to  move  the  radicals  with  whom  he 
associated  to  petition  the  church-authorities  of  Wiirtemberg 
to  send  a  pastor  for  Germantown  were  in  vain.  His  attempt, 
also,  to  create  a  disturbance  in  the  Philadelphia  congregation 
did  not  succeed. 

On  the  very  evening  of  the  formal  separation  of  the  two 
parties  at  Germantown  the  conservatives,  finding  that  Hand- 
schuh  did  not  intend  to  forsake  them,  rented  a  house  not  far 
from  the  church,  and  soon  afterward  adapted  it  for  public  ser- 
vices. On  the  following  Sunday,  Miihlenberg  preached  in  it 
to  an  audience  of  about  one  hundred.  There  was  sufficient 
room  in  it  for  Handschuh's  family.  On  week-days  he  served 
also  as  parochial  teacher.  There  is  no  doubt  that  as  pastor 
and  teacher  he  performed  a  good  work,  but  his  flock  was  very 
small  and  he  had  to  live  on  a  most  scanty  allowance.  Let  it 
be  here  mentioned  in  praise  of  a  Reformed  pastor  at  that  time 
serving  in  South  Carolina  (Rev.  Joachim  Ziibly)  that  he  not 
only  sent  Handschuh,  of  whose  circumstances  he  had  heard, 
some  financial  assistance,  but  moved  some  friends  to  send  to  his 
needy  family  several  barrels  of  rice,  while  his  name  was  not 
mentioned  in  this  transaction. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  leaders  of  the  revolt  in  German- 
town  and  their  Philadelphia  associates  made  secret  efforts  to 
occasion  similar  disturbances  in  other  congregations.  They 
to  some  extent  succeeded  at  York,  where  a  number  of  mem- 
bers of  the  congregation  under  the  care  of  Schaum,  who  was 
physically  weak,  but  faithful  in  his  services,  separated,  and 
called,  in  1754,  John  Samuel  Schwerdfeger — who  had  but 
recently  landed  in  Maryland,  and  whose  passage- money  they 
had  to  pay — to  serve  them  as  pastor.  The  larger  portion  of 
the  congregation  were  at  that  time  not  willing  to  part  with 
Schaum,  who,  however,  in  1755  accepted  a  call  to  Tohicon 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  307 

and  neighboring  churches,  married  again  in  August,  1758, 
his  first  wife  having  died  in  1752,  moved  the  following  year 
to  New  Hanover,  served  congregations  at  Oley,  Pikeland,  and 
Lower  Dublin,  for  a  time  preached  every  fourth  Sunday  at 
Providence,  and  lived  from  1763  at  Weitendahl  (Whitehall, 
Lehigh  county),  Pa.  Finally  he  was  called  to  Mosellem 
church,  and  there  died  Jan.  26,  1778. 

When  Handschuh  had  left  Lancaster  the  congregation 
there  was  advised  by  Wagner  to  request  the  consistory  of 
the  Evangelical  Church  of  Wiirtemberg  to  send  a  pastor. 
Meanwhile,  Wagner  occasionally  served  them,  and  also  a 
vagabond  student,  J.  Theoph.  Engelland  of  Wiirtemberg, 
and  after  him  H.  B.  G.  Wordmann,  formerly  pastor  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Hamburg,  a  man  of  the  roughest,  most 
indomitable  temper,  who,  after  being  paid  off  with  forty 
pounds  by  the  congregation,  quitted  Lancaster  for  a  time, 
served  the  young  congregation  at  Reading,  and  in  1757 
began  pastoral  labors  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  but  was  nowhere 
successful  for  any  long  period.  In  March,  1753,  the  pastor 
sent  by  the  Church  authorities  of  Wiirtemberg,  and  furnished 
with  excellent  credentials,  the  Rev.  John  Siegfried  Gerock, 
arrived.  He  had  crossed  the  Atlantic  in  company  with  the 
Rev.  Christian  Rabenhorst,  a  missionary  of  Halle,  intended 
as  pastor  of  the  Ebenezer  congregation  in  Georgia,  and  who 
was  not  altogether  pleased  with  Gerock's  conduct.  Gerock 
had  landed  at  Savannah,  and  then  by  the  way  of  Charles- 
ton reached  Philadelphia  just  at  the  time  of  the  outbreak  of 
the  revolutionary  agitation  in  the  Germantown  congregation. 
He  had  various  meetings  with  Miihlenberg,  Brunnholtz,  and 
Handschuh,  but  was  also  influenced  by  the  leaders  of  the 
revolutionary  party,  who  even  on  March  i6th  announced  in 
the  German  newspaper  that  on  the  following  Sunday  Gerock 
would  preach  in  the  Germantown  church.  He  preached  nei- 
ther there  nor  in  St.  Michael's  at  Philadelphia,  but  went  with 
his  wife  to  Lancaster  (March  I7th).  As  a  stranger  he  pru- 
dently avoided  committing  himself  on  the  side  of  either  of 
the  contending  parties  in  the  Germantown  turmoil.  Subse- 


308  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

quently  he  joined  the  synod,  but  was  never  in  an  intimate 
relation  with  the  Halle  pastors.  As  a  preacher  he  had  no 
eminent  success,  but  attracted  to  himself  in  Lancaster  during 
fourteen  years  of  pastoral  services  a  considerable  number  of 
personal  friends.  Already  in  1762  he  was  moved  to  pay  a 
visit  to  the  German  Lutheran  congregation  at  New  York. 
When,  in  1767,  the  congregation  had  finished  their  new  and 
spacious  house  of  worship  called  Christ  Church,  he  accepted 
a  call  given  him,  and  stayed  in  his  new  field  of  labor  until 
1773.  Soon  after  his  arrival  at  New  York  he  found  himself 
involved  in  very  unpleasant  public  controversies  with  Wey- 
gand,  at  that  time  still  pastor  of  the  old  Dutch  church ;  and 
it  appears  that  his  position  at  New  York  was  far  from  giv- 
ing him  satisfaction  for  any  length  of  time.  In  1772,  fur- 
nished with  a  recommendation  from  Miihlenberg,  he  had 
visited  the  Bedminster  congregation  on  the  Raritan,  but  had 
received,  however,  no  call.  The  Germantown  congregation 
also,  which  from  1763  was  again  united  with  the  synod  (Ps. 
cxxv.  3),  found  him  not  acceptable.  In  1773  he  received  a 
call  to  the  German  Lutheran  congregation  at  Baltimore,  Md., 
and  ten  years  later  was  visited  there  by  the  Rev.  J.  Chr.  Kunze, 
D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia,  under  whom,  in  the  following  year, 
the  two  Lutheran  congregations  of  New  York  v/ere  happily 
united.  Gerock  died  at  Baltimore  in  1787,  and  was  succeeded 
in  the  service  of  his  congregation  by  the  Rev.  John  Daniel 
Kurtz,  son  of  J.  Nic.  Kurtz. 

Toward  the  end  of  1752,  or  at  the  beginning  of  1753, 
Miihlenberg  and  his  colaborers  received  letters  and  testimo- 
nials from  the  Rev.  Berh.  Mich.  Hausihl,  at  that  time  serv- 
ing at  least  a  portion  of  the  Lutheran  congregation  at  Fred- 
ericktown,  Md.  In  these  letters  he  expresses  his  desire  to 
be  taken  into  the  brotherhood  and  to  become  a  member  of 
synod.  He  also  complains  of  the  intruder  Streiter,  of  whom 
we  have  formerly  heard,  and  who,  after  having  served  as  pas- 
tor in  Eastern  Pennsylvania  without  ever  having  been  lawfully 
ordained,  had  for  two  years  palmed  himself  upon  the  Freder- 
icktown  charge,  and,  being  unable  fully  to  establish  his  cler- 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHIOR  MUHLENBER  G.  3  09 

ical  character,  was  acknowledged  only  by  a  portion  of  the 
congregation.  We  know  that  in  1747,  while  on  a  missionary 
tour,  Muhlenberg  had  visited  that  locality  and  established  the 
Lutherans  on  a  confessional  and  constitutional  basis.  In  1749 
we  find  there  Valentin  Kraft,  who,  though  attending  to  some 
clerical  duties,  was  never  elected  the  regular  pastor,  and 
who  in  1751  died  there  in  extreme  poverty.  In  agreement 
with  the  resolution  of  synod,  Schaum  visited  Fredericktown 
during  1751  and  1752.  In  the  latter  year  Hausihl  had  come 
to  this  country.  The  son  of  a  public  teacher,  he  was  born  in 
1727  at  Heilbronn,  then  a  free  imperial  city.  In  1746  he  was 
matriculated  at  the  University  of  Strassburg  as  a  theological 
student.  As  a  candidate  for  missionary  work  in  America  he 
was  ordained  by  the  Lutheran  Consistory  of  Amsterdam,  and 
before  embarking  was  married  to  Sybilla  Margaretta  Mayer, 
daughter  of  a  highly-respected  actuary  public  of  the  city  of 
Ulm,  who  with  his  family  also  migrated  to  the  English  prov- 
inces of  North  America,  and  whose  descendants  are  now 
among  the  prominent  families  of  Maryland.  On  his  arrival 
at  Annapolis,  Hausihl  was  probably  directed  to  Frederick- 
town  by  Daniel  Dulany,  a  landowner  who  in  May,  1752, 
presented  the  Lutheran  congregation  with  a  lot  on  which  to 
erect  a  church.  The  condition  of  this  congregation  was 
deplorable.  Hausihl,  a  man  of  talent,  energy,  and  culture, 
endeavored  to  establish  congregational  discipline,  but  in  1758 
was  induced  to  accept  a  call  to  Reading,  where  he  served  until 
1763,  after  which  for  a  short  time  he  had  charge  of  the  con- 
gregations at  Easton  and  the  neighborhood.  After  visiting 
a  brother,  who  also  had  emigrated  in  1752,  in  South  Caro- 
lina, he  appeared  in  1765  in  Philadelphia,  where  we  shall  again 
meet  him. 

In  consequence  of  the  earnest  petition  of  the  Lutherans  at 
Fredericktown,  Muhlenberg  visited  them  in  December,  1758. 
We  remember  his  former  visit  to  this  locality.  In  Maryland, 
as  in  Virginia,  Church  and  State  were  to  some  extent  united. 
The  tax  raised  from  all  the  inhabitants,  irrespective  of  their 
religious  persuasion,  was  used  to  sustain  Anglican  ministers 


310  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

in  the  province.  This  appeared  a  harsh  measure  to  German 
settlers,  who  were  in  no  way  benefited  by  the  services  of  an 
exclusively  English-speaking  pastor.  The  German  Lutherans, 
in  addition  to  paying  the  tax,  had,  of  course,  to  provide  for 
their  own  pastor.  They  told  Miihlenberg  that  dissensions  and 
separations  made  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  elect  and  support 
a  pastor  with  unanimity.  They  felt  that  a  minister  placed 
over  them  by  a  higher  authority,  provided  he  were  a  right- 
minded  man,  would  prevent  many  evils.  Their  conviction  that 
Miihlenberg  was  just  such  a  man,  and  could  serve  not  only 
them,  but  also  the  English  population,  and  give  satisfaction 
to  all  parties  concerned,  proves  that  they  took  a  very  practical 
view  of  the  case.  Of  course  Miihlenberg  could  not  accede 
to  the  latter  part  of  the  proposition ;  as  to  the  former,  touch- 
ing the  laws  of  Maryland,  he  could  only  try  to  exercise  some 
influence,  which  he  was  willing  to  do.  The  pastor  of  the 
Anglican  congregation  at  Fredericktown  having  died  shortly 
before,  some  of  the  elders  requested  Miihlenberg  to  preach  in 
their  church,  which  he  did  on  Sunday  morning.  In  the  after- 
noon the  German  Reformed  church  was  opened  to  him,  the 
Lutherans  not  yet  having  one  of  their  own.  The  following 
day  some  justices  of  the  peace  and  other  civil  officers  visited 
Miihlenberg  and  proposed  to  him  that  he  should  become  their 
county  pastor  and  preach  in  both  languages,  saying  that  the 
endowments  of  the  office  amounted  to  about  six  hundred 
pounds  current,  and  that  the  county  would  probably  be  divided 
into  two  parishes,  thus  reducing  the  labors  of  the  incumbent. 
Plausible  as  these  propositions  were,  Miihlenberg  would  not 
entertain  them,  but  secured  the  promise  of  his  visitors  to 
intercede  with  the  governor  of  the  province  for  the  removal 
of  the  grievances  of  his  German  brethren  in  the  faith.  He 
informs  us  that  he  made  a  hurried  return  from  Frederick- 
town.  Passing  through  Lancaster,  he  paid  a  visit  to  Gerock, 
but  it  seems  that  he  did  not  tarry  at  York  to  see  Raus,  who 
had  begun  his  pastoral  work  there  in  the  spring  of  that  year. 
On  this  tour  to  Fredericktown,  Miihlenberg  was  accompa- 
nied by  one  of  his  neighbors  at  Providence,  Christian  Freder- 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHIOR  MUHLENBER  G.  311 

ick  Maertens  (Martens,  Martini),  a  surgeon,  son-in-law  of  Rev. 
Jacob  Frederick  Schertlin,  who,  after  having  been  a  consider- 
able number  of  years  pastor  of  congregations  in  Wiirtemberg, 
in  1753,  in  advanced  age,  arrived  in  Pennsylvania,  moved 
with  his  family  to  Macungie,  bought  land,  built  himself  a 
house,  became  pastor  of  the  Lutheran  congregation  there 
and  of  neighboring  churches,  was  received  into  the  ministry 
in  1754,  like  many  others  was  obliged  to  flee  for  a  time  in 
1763  on  account  of  the  barbarous  attacks  of  the  Indians,  and 
Nov.  8,  1768,  is  mentioned  by  Miihlenberg  as  already  deceased. 
When  his  daughter,  with  her  husband,  had  settled  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Miihlenberg,  his  advice  in  various  matters 
proved  beneficial  to  them,  and  her  father  came  to  pay  his 
respects  to  Miihlenberg,  who  in  a  letter  of  July  18,  1754, 
says :  "  Though  Mr.  Schertlin  hated  me  without  cause  and 
avoided  intercourse  with  me,  I  always  loved  him,  because  I 
was  occasionally  informed  that  he  was  diligent  in  preaching 
and  catechising,  and  by  the  afflictions  in  Pennsylvania,  which 
he  could  not  escape,  was  made  more  humble  and  submissive 
to  God's  purposes."  Again  :  "  I  was  living  in  hope  that  there 
was  growing,  under  a  hard,  choleric  surface,  by  the  influence 
of  God's  good  Spirit,  a  good  core,  and  therefore,  with  the 
consent  of  my  brethren,  invited  him  to  be  present  at  our  last 
synodical  meeting  at  New  Hanover,  where,  June  i6th  and 
1 7th,  he  met  us  and  the  Swedish  provost  Acrelius  and  thir- 
teen united  ministers  and  delegates  from  Pennsylvania,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  and  Maryland,  and  was  considerably  aston- 
ished to  observe  that  all  things  were  transacted  in  a  simple, 
open,  edifying  manner,  without  any  imperiousness  or  strife 
of  ambition."  To  this  Schertlin  subsequently  testified  in  a 
letter  sent  to  Miihlenberg. 

Schertlin  had  expected  to  be  elected  successor  of  Tobias 
Wagner  in  the  congregation  at  Reading,  but  his  first  sermon 
there  was  not  calculated  to  secure  him  the  favor  of  the  peo- 
ple. He  had  made  the  "  Pragmatic  Sanction  of  Austria  " — 
that  compact  giving  Maria  Theresa,  the  daughter  of  Emperor 
Charles  VI.,  the  right  to  inherit  the  imperial  crown — the  sub- 


312  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

ject  of  his  sermon.  We  do  not  know  what  religious  senti- 
ments or  principles  he  connected  with  it,  but  we  do  know  that 
to  the  Reading  Lutherans  that  subject  offered  no  attraction. 
For  several  years  Wagner  had  served  them.  The  town  and 
the  congregation  were  young,  but  growing.  Miihlenberg  had 
met  Wagner  there  as  early  as  March,  1751.  Dissensions  hav- 
ing arisen  between  Wagner  and  the  congregation,  Miihlenberg 
was  requested  by  eighty-two  members,  who  gave  their  signa- 
tures, to  preach  the  first  sermon  in  the  new  church-building, 
to  which  he  consented,  receiving  special  commission  for  this 
purpose  from  synod.  Wagner,  greatly  incensed  at  this  step, 
published  a  pamphlet  against  Miihlenberg,  using  bitter  lan- 
guage and  accusing  him  of  heresy.  Miihlenberg's  entreaties 
with  the  congregation  to  recall  Wagner,  who  had  left  that  field 
of  labor,  were  in  vain.  Neither  would  they  address  themselves, 
in  accordance  with  a  proposition  by  Miihlenberg,  to  the  eccle- 
siastical authorities  of  Wiirtemberg  to  send  them  a  suitable 
pastor,  because  none  of  the  united  pastors  of  Pennsylvania 
could  be  spared  for  them  and  Schertlin  was  not  acceptable. 
They  then  called  Wordmann  from  Lancaster.  When,  after  a 
short  time,  he  proved  a  failure,  Hausihl  was  called,  as  has 
already  been  stated.  In  those  years  J.  Conrad  Weiser  took 
a  lively  interest  in  the  Reading  congregation.  The  dedica- 
tion of  the  new  church  moved  him  to  compose  in  honor  of 
that  solemnity  a  piece  of  poetry  which  is  preserved  to  us,  and 
which  indicates  not  only  a  fine  poetical  talent,  but  also  the 
glowing  fervor  of  religious  feeling. 

The  New  Jersey  congregations  on  the  Raritan  continued 
to  be  a  care  to  Muhlenberg.  Their  original  names  had  grad- 
ually fallen  into  disuse,  and  even  before  1760  we  find  them 
denominated  Bedminister  and  New  Germantown,  to  which 
»  maybe  added  an  outlying  congregation  called  "In  the  Valley." 
Each  of  the  first  two  had  its  own  church,  but  all  three  still 
formed  one  charge.  As  early  as  1759  the  "  In-the- Valley " 
congregation  is  mentioned  under  this  name,  at  which  time  the 
Lutherans  there  were  still  connected  with  New  Germantown. 

We  find  that  the  troubles  of  the  Germantown  congregation 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  313 

were  talked  about  also  in  the  Raritan  churches,  and  there 
also,  before  the  removal  of  Weygand  to  New  York,  had  occa- 
sioned a  transient  disturbance.  A  document  containing  cal- 
umnies against  the  "  united  pastors  "  was  read  before  the  assem- 
bled congregation  during  the  services  on  Good  Friday,  1753. 
After  proper  investigation  the  two  members  of  the  vestry  who 
had  been  the  officious  agents  in  this  matter  were  excluded 
from  the  congregation.  Miihlenberg,  paying  a  visit  there 
July  1/j.th  to  2Oth  of  that  year,  succeeded,  by  his  preaching 
and  personal  intercourse  with  the  members,  in  restoring  good 
feeling  and, peace  among  those  who  had  been  quarrelling. 
The  two  vestrymen  who  had  been  particularly  involved  in 
the  disturbance  came  forward  after  Muhlenberg's  sermon  on 
the  fourth  Sunday  after  Trinity  (July  I5th),  offered  him  their 
hands,  and,  having  given  sufficient  proof  of  their  change  of 
mind,  were  restored  to  church-membership.  In  the  afternoon 
of  that  Sunday,  Miihlenberg  was  requested  to  preach  in  the 
English  language.  Knowing  that  reports  had  been  spread 
among  the  English  that  the  Lutherans  were  secretly  inclined 
to  Romish  doctrines,  he  not  only  preached  on  true  repentance, 
living  faith,  and  godliness,  but  .elucidated  also  the  doctrine 
of  the  sacraments ;  all  of  which  was  well  received  by  his  hear- 
ers. July  1 8th  he  preached  in  German  and  English  "  in  a  barn 
eight  miles  from  the  church,"  and  on  Thursday,  June  ipth, 
held  a  meeting  with  the  officers  and  members  of  the  congre- 
gations forming  the  charge,  and  succeeded  in  removing  exist- 
ing difficulties.  They  also  were  willing  to  accept  of  Schrenk 
as  their  pastor;  he  moved  there  in  December,  1753.  We 
already  know  that  in  consequence  of  great  dissatisfaction 
caused  by  his  perverse  behavior  he  had  left  that  charge  in 
1756. 

•In  the  summer  or  autumn  of  1756,  Miihlenberg  paid  a  visit 
to  New  York  in  behalf  of  the  old  Dutch  congregation,  then 
served  by  Weygand,  who  at  that  time  had  not  yet  received  a 
formal  call.  We  have  no  information  that  Miihlenberg  took 
occasion  at  this  time  also  to  visit  the  Raritan  congregations, 
but  we  know  that  in  1757,  after  the  departure  of  Schrenk  at 


314  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

the  end  of  1756,  Miihlenberg,  who  considered  those  congre- 
gations as  among  his  pastoral  responsibilities,  paid  them  two 
visits.  He  says  that  after  Schrenk  had  left  them,  "  in  the 
midst  of  the  winter  1757,  a  number  of  right-minded  and 
trustworthy  members  came  from  there  and  entreated  me, 
for  God's  sake,  to  help  them  once  more,  and  not  to  allow 
their  congregations  and  church  to  go  to  ruin.  They  moved 
me  to  have  compassion  on  them.  I  was  at  that  time  in  daily 
fears  that  Mr.  Kurtz  would  have  to  flee  from  Tulpehoken  be- 
fore the  savage  enemies  [the  Indians].  I  therefore  promised 
those  people  that  I  would 'once  more  concern  myself  about 
them,  and  visit  them  in  the  spring  of  1757.  When  this  was 
made  known  on  the  Raritan,  it  caused  much  joy,  and  in  the 
congregation  '  in  the  mountains '  the  oldest  members  met  with- 
out my  knowledge,  resolved  to  build  a  new  church,  and  in  a 
short  time  had  subscribed  for  this  purpose  two  hundred  pounds. 
When  the  members  of  the  Anglican  church  heard  of  this,  they 
also  by  subscription  raised  two  hundred  pounds,  on  condition 
that  the  German  Evangelical  preacher  would  from  time  to 
time  preach  in  the  new  church,  to  which  our  people  hopefully 
assented.  Accompanied  by  our  parochial  teacher,  I  set  out 
in  the  spring  oft  the  tour  to  New  Jersey.  In  consequence  of 
the  swollen  rivers  I  was  twice  injured  in  body,  but  arrived 
alive  on  the  Raritan,  where  I  remained  four  weeks,  while  Mr. 
W.  Kurtz,  Jr.  [he  had  arrived  in  1754  from  Halle,  and  under 
Miihlenberg's  supervision  continued  his  preparatory  course 
for  the  ministry]  preached  to  my  Pennsylvania  congrega- 
tions. In  spite  of  the  war-troubles  caused  by  the  Indians 
along  the  frontiers,  God,  in  his  great  mercy,  permitted  us  to 
bring  together,  reconcile,  and  finally  unite  the  two  congrega- 
tions. The  one  of  the  two  congregations  I  warned  against 
running  into  debt  for  an  expensive  church-edifice,  since  we 
were  now  living  in  war-times ;  but  they  said  it  was  better  to 
spend  their  earnings  in  building  a  church  than  to  save  them 
for  the  enemy.  Germans  and  English,  harmoniously  working 
together,  used  all  possible  arguments  to  make  me  promise 
that,  if  ever  possible,  I  would — at  least  for  a  year — come  here 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  315 

with  my  family  and  administer  to  them  the  means  of  grace, 
inasmuch  as  the  Pennsylvanians  had  all  the  pastors,  while 
they  were  left  without  any.  All  my  objections  were  of  no 
avail,  and  after  I  had  told  them  finally  that  their  old  parson- 
age was  too  small  and  unsuitable  for  my  family,  these  people 
erected  within  four  months  a  new  roomy  building,  of  freestone, 
next  to  the  old  one.  Considering  these  circumstances,  with  all 
their  connections,  though  suffering  a  loss  in  temporal  things, 
I  could  not  but  promise  them  that  if  it  pleased  God  I  would 
be  willing  for  a  time  to  move  to  them  with  a  view  to  gather 
and  establish  the  congregations."  In  the  autumn  of  the  same 
year  he  visited  them  again,  spent  five  weeks  with  them,  and 
was  happy  in  seeing  that  the  word  of  God  was  acceptable  to 
both  the  Germans  and  the  English. 

During  the  spring  and  summer  of  1758,  Miihlenberg  spent 
nine  weeks  in  the  Raritan  congregations  doing  the  work  of 
a  missionary  and  a  pastor,  preaching  and  instructing,  and  for 
this  purpose  using  German  and  English.  He  also  confirmed 
seven  catechumens,  and  at  an  unusually  great  concourse  of 
people  of  various  nationalities  and  persuasions  held  the  first 
services  in  English  and  German  in  the  newly-erected  church 
at  Bedminister.  Returning  to  Pennsylvania/  urged  by  pe- 
titions from  Germans  and  English,  he  travelled  through  the 
mountains  to  what  then  was  called  the  Pennsylvania  frontiers, 
comforting  the  poor  distressed  people  by  his  addresses,  and 
preaching  and  administering  the  sacraments  to  those  who, 
on  account  of  the  Indian  troubles,  had  been  in  great  anx- 
iety. On  that  tour  Miihlenberg  met  in  most  remote  localities 
acquaintances  whom  he  had  formerly  known  in  the  "  united 
congregations,"  and  who  greatly  rejoiced  again  to  see  and  to 
hear  him.  He  found  that  many  a  good  word  was  retained 
which  he  had  spoken  years  before.  He  took  this  as  an 
encouraging  proof  that  not  all  the  good  seed  sowed  was 
lost.  During  his  absence  Schaum,  then  residing  in  New 
Hanover,  had  served  his  congregations,  William  Kurtz,  Jr., 
having  gone  to  Tohicon  and  the  neighborhood  to  labor  as 
catechist.  After  his  return  to  Providence,  Muhlenberg  was 


316  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

requested  again  to  have  a  care  of  the  Lutherans  at  Molatton, 
who  since  1752  had  been  served  by  the  Swedish  minister 
John  Abr.  Lidenius,  who  in  that  year  moved  into  that  neigh- 
borhood to  Manathanim  and  performed  services  at  Molatton, 
but  after  some  time  moved  to  Amasland  (Kingsessing,  west 
of  Philadelphia).  In  connection  with  J.  N.  Kurtz  of  Tulpehoken 
and  with  Schaum  he  had  occasionally  served  also  at  Reading, 
until,  at  the  end  of  1758,  Hausihl  entered  there  upon  his  pas- 
toral duties. 

Monday,  June  I  ith  (the  day  after  Trinity),  1759,  Miihlenberg 
again — and  this  time  accompanied  by  his  family — moved  to 
the  Raritan  congregations.  His  family  then  consisted  of  him- 
self, Mrs.  Muhlenberg,  and  their  seven  children.  John  Peter 
Gabriel  was  then  in  his  thirteenth,  his  sister  Eve  Elizabeth 
in  her  eleventh,  year.  Both  had  in  1755  been  entrusted  to 
the  care  of  a  well-educated  Englishwoman  married  at  New 
Hanover,  who,  having  no  children  of  her  own,  had,  with  her 
husband,  adopted  an  English  youth,  who,  however,  after  some 
years  departed  this  life.  In  her  dealings  with  this  youth  she 
had  shown  so  much  wisdom,  and  had  exercised  such  a  happy 
influence  upon  him,  that  Muhlenberg  knew  that  his  children, 
while  they  acquired  a.  proper  knowledge  of  the  English  lan- 
guage, would  also  in  other  respects  be  well  taken  care  of.  How 
long  both  of  them  were  in  that  family  we  are  unable  to  say. 
They  certainly  went  with  their  parents,  who  travelled  in  a 
wagon,  to  the  Raritan  congregations.  Three  of  the  children 
were  left  at  Providence.  Muhlenberg  speaks  of  taking  farewell 
of  them.  There  was  an  infant,  Samuel,  not  yet  one  year  old, 
who  afterward  was  in  his  sixth  year  taken  by  death  from  his 
parents ;  little  Samuel  also  now  accompanied  them  to  New 
Jersey.  The  three  children  left  at  Providence  were  in  good 
hands.  During  the  winter  of  1753  a  man  twenty-six  or 
twenty-seven  years  old,  William  Graaf,  a  German  of  good 
education,  through  the  intercession  of  friends  was  received 
by  Muhlenberg  into  his  house,  though  former  trials  made  in 
similar  cases  greatly  dissuaded  him  from  this  form  of  charity. 
He  succeeded  in  reawakening  in  this  waif  thrown  upon  him 


HENR  Y  MELCH20R  MUHLENBERG.  3 1 / 

in  a  foreign  country  the  religious  impressions  of  earlier  years 
and  in  leading  him  in  the  good  path.  During  the  winter  he 
sent  him  to  an  English  school  to  acquire  the  language,  the 
following  summer  took  him  to  the  Raritan  congregations, 
continued  to  instruct  him  and  to  prepare  him  for  the  min- 
istry, after  his  return  from  New  Jersey  procured  him  a  posi- 
tion as  teacher  on  the  west  side  of  the  Schuylkill,  during  the 
winter  of  1759  kept  him  again  in  his  house,  directed  his  stud- 
ies, and  was  much  gratified  in  finding  that  the  good  Spirit  had 
begun  its  work  in  the  young  man's  heart.  Being  sent  out  to 
preach  in  small  congregations  at  the  distant  outposts,  Graaf 
gave  much  satisfaction.  Miihlenberg,  who  intended  again  to 
use  him  for  a  time  as  a  teacher,  advised  him  for  divers  reasons 
to  marry.  Soon  a  very  suitable  partner  was  found  for  him, 
and  to  this  young  couple  Miihlenberg  now  for  some  time  left 
his  house  and  farm-land  and  three  of  his  children.  It  seems 
that  on  this  occasion  he  had  bestowed  his  confidence  upon 
people  worthy  of  it. 

The  Lutherans  of  the  New  Jersey  congregations,  knowing 
the  day  on  which  they  could  expect  the  visitors,  and  intend- 
ing to  show  all  possible  respect  and  attention,  had  sent  six 
wagons  to  the  Delaware  ferry,  twenty-five  miles  from  New 
Germantown.  When  Miihlenberg  and  his  wife  and  children 
arrived,  some  elders  and  their  wives  were  present  to  welcome 
them  and  to  offer  them  a  well-prepared  repast.  And  now 
Miihlenberg  again  began  his  pastoral  work  at  New  German- 
town,  Bedminster,  "  in  the  valley,"  and  in  the  vicinity,  preach- 
ing and  teaching  in  German  and  English,  attending  to  the 
spiritual  condition  of  many  individuals,  and  visiting  the  sick 
and  the  aged.  He  met  there,  also,  the  Rev.  Fr.  Schultz,  who, 
having  married  in  1754,  had  now  settled  in  this  neighborhood. 
He  held,  however,  no  official  relation  to  the  congregations,  but 
— at  least,  for  a  time — kept  a  store  and  practised  the  medical 
art.  Miihlenberg  seems  to  have  spent  some  of  his  leisure 
hours  in  agricultural  pursuits,  and  during  the  busy  season  of 
haymaking  willingly  gave  his  assistance. 

July  26th  a  visitor  (Dr.  Ai  v.  B.)  came  from  Hackensack, 


3l8  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

related  the  condition  of  the  Lutheran  congregation  there, 
brought  letters  from  Hartwig,  who  on  the  preceding  Sunday 
had  preached  there,  and  in  behalf  of  the  congregation  re- 
quested Miihlenberg  to  pay  them  a  visit.  Aug.  2ist,  Miihl- 
enberg  set  out,  and  on  the  following  day,  in  company  with  two 
gentlemen,  by  the  way  of  Longhill  and  Newark,  reached  the 
court-house  near  Hackensack,  and  later  at  night  the  house  of 
L.  Van  Buskirk,  the  justice  of  the  peace.  He  preached  there, 
before  an  exceedingly  large  assembly,  Sunday,  Aug.  26th, 
and  again  on  Thursday,  having  promised  to  preach  at  Rem- 
merspach  on  the  following  Sunday,  and  held  service  with  the 
celebration  of  confirmation  and  the  Lord's  Supper.  On  the 
following  Saturday,  Sept.  1st,  he  set  out  for  Remmerspach, 
preaching  on  Sunday,  in  the  morning,  in  German,  in  the  after- 
noon, to  a  still  larger  assembly,  in  Dutch.  Sept.  4th,  Tues- 
day, at  noon,  he  was  again  with  his  family. 

We  know  that  Hackensack  and  Remmerspach  were  in  a 
parochial  connection  with  the  old  Dutch  Lutheran  congre- 
gation at  New  York.  Weygand  had  for  a  time  served  all  the 
three  churches,  but,  rinding  the  labor  too  arduous,  had  inju- 
diciously placed  Schrenk  over  the  two  Jersey  congregations. 
We  know,  too,  that  Schrenk  here  also  proved  his  inability, 
and  left  after  having  done  mischief.  Both  congregations 
were  now  again  vacant,  and  one  of  the  topics  on  which 
Miihlenberg  was  anxiously  consulted  was  whom  to  elect 
as  pastor. 

Sept.  I Qth,  Mrs.  Muhlenberg,  taking  with  her  the  youngest 
child,  and  in  a  country  wagon  setting  out  for  Pennsylvania, 
was  accompanied  for  a  distance  of  eleven  miles  by  her  hus- 
band, who  was  on  horseback.  On  his  return  he  visited  an 
aged  man  who  had  come  to  this  country  in  the  times  of 
Queen  Anne,  and  for  many  years  had  been  separated  from 
the  congregation  and  the  Lord's  Table.  In  speaking  of  his 
protracted  conversation  with  this  man  he  makes  in  his  diary 
some  remarks  which  evidence  his  clear  and  unbiassed  judg- 
ment, and  which  may  have  an  interest  for  our  readers.  He 
says :  "  As  regards  the  long-continued  absence  from  the 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHIOR  MUHLENBER  G.  319 

Lord's  Supper,  we  poor  beings  are  on  each  side  inclined  to 
extremes.  The  sainted  Luther  having  found  it  necessary 
in  his  times  to  save  the  article  of  justification  by  faith  of 
a  poor  lost  sinner  before  God,  and  free  it  from  an  unfath- 
omable abyss  of  human  ordinances  and  of  a  righteousness 
based  upon  human  doings,  and  to  place  that  article  on  its 
proper  throne,  the  blind  zealots  but  too  easily  ran  into  the 
other  extreme ;  and,  although  Luther  had  no  less  illustriously 
taught  of  true  sanctity  than  of  repentance,  faith,  and  justifi- 
cation, they  rejected  with  the  justification  by  works  the  sanc- 
tification  and  daily  renewal  resulting  from  justification  by 
faith.  But  the  sainted  Arndt,  Spener,  Miiller,  Francke,  and 
all  other  right-minded  theologians  and  servants  of  Christ, 
finding  it  needful  to  refute  the  error  of  those  who  without 
the  exercise  of  repentance,  faith,  and  true  godliness  trusted, 
in  their  carnal-mindedness,  upon  the  outward  performance 
and  use  of  the  means  of  grace,  many  again  ran  into  the 
other  extreme  and  rejected  the  proper  use  of  the  means 
of  grace."  These  words  clearly  prove  that  Muhlenberg 
was  by  no  means  blind  as  to  the  weak  and  dangerous 
sides  of  Pietism. 

Coming  home  that  evening,  he  found  his  children  dis- 
tressed on  account  of  the  absence  of  their  mother.  After 
having  (Sept.  25th)  preached  in  the  Dutch  language  on  the 
occasion  of  a  funeral  ten  miles  distant  from  the  church, 
in  a  large  barn,  he  on  the  following  day  set  out  for  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Sept.  27th,  at  noon,  arrived  at  Providence. 

The  members  of  the  congregations  at  Providence,  New 
Hanover,  beyond  the  Schuylkill  (in  the  course  of  time 
Zion's  and  St.  Peter's  congregations  at  Pikestown  or  Vin- 
cent), and  all  other  friends,  greatly  rejoiced  again  to  see 
and  to  hear  their  old  pastor,  who  with  his  wonted  zeal 
went  to  the  pastoral  work.  His  assistant,  Schaum,  who 
had  special  care  of  the  membership  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Schuylkill,  was  a  faithful  man  and  willing  to  do  his 
duty  :  this  enabled  Muhlenberg  to  absent  himself  for  such 
a  length  of  time  from  his  Pennsylvania  congregations.  Dur- 


32O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

ing  that  summer  Schrenk  had  for  the  last  time  after  his  return 
from  Curasao  been  an  inmate  of  Miihlenberg's  house  at  Prov- 
idence, and  by  his  bad  manners  created  trouble  enough  to  the 
young  Graaf  family.  Oct.  2d  he  left,  in  company  with  Fred. 
Schultz,  who  had  been  Miihlenberg's  fellow-traveller  from  the 
Raritan,  for  Philadelphia,  to  embark  for  Europe. 

Having  made  exceeding  good  use  of  his  few  weeks'  sojourn 
among  his  old  Pennsylvania  friends,  and  been  engaged  in  pub- 
lic and  private  services,  in  deliberations  with  his  vestries,  with 
Schaum,  J.  N.  Kurtz  (who  came  to  visit  him  the  day  before  his 
departure),  in  attending  to  the  sick  and  to  other  individual 
friends,  Thursday,  Oct.  1 8th,  Miihlenberg  again  left  with  Mrs. 
Miihlenberg,  and,  taking  the  direction  toward  the  Delaware, 
stopped  at  a  place  called  Bottler's  Mill,  where  quite  a  number 
of  Germans  had  settled.  The  English  Baptists  had  a  meeting- 
house there,  and  their  most  prominent  member,  a  justice  of 
the  peace,  had  granted  the  Germans  the  use  of  it  for  this  occa- 
sion, provided  that  Miihlenberg  would  first  deliver  a  sermon 
in  English.  The  same  individual  also  privately  requested 
Miihlenberg,  before  services  began,  to  explain  in  his  address 
the  Lutheran  doctrine  of  baptism,  which  was  done  to  the 
great  satisfaction  of  the  hearers.  After  services  in  German, 
upon  meeting  his  family  Miihlenberg  was  informed  by  a  pri- 
vate letter  of  the  conquest  of  Quebec  by  the  English,  and  of 
the  heroic  death  of  General  Wolfe.  Miihlenberg's  interest  in 
the  political  affairs  of  those  times  was  to  a  large  extent  based 
on  his  sympathy  with  the  Protestants  arrayed  against  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  powers :  for  this  reason  he  also  rejoiced  when- 
ever a  victory  of  Frederick  the  Great  over  Austria  or  the 
French  was  reported,  for  the  Seven  Years'  War  was  just  then 
raging  in  Germany. 

Oct.  iQth  he  again  arrived  with  his  family  at  New  German- 
town.  Oct.  2 ist  he  preached  there;  Wednesday,  the  24th,  in 
a  barn  "  in  the  valley ;"  began  the  following  day,  at  Bedmin- 
ster,  instruction  with  a  diversified  class  of  catechumens,  some 
of  whom  spoke  German,  others  Dutch,  and  still  others  Eng- 
lish. The  military  victories  over  the  French  on  land  and  on 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  3  2 1 

sea  occasioned  great  celebrations  at  New  Germantown,  Bed- 
minster,  and  many  other  localities  throughout  the  provinces. 
And  now  he  continued  his  pastoral  activity  through  the  dis- 
trict in  which  the  Lutherans  were  settled.  Nov.  I2th,  Mr. 
Graaf  and  his  wife  arrived  from  Providence,  and  with  them 
Peter,  Muhlenberg's  first-born.  Graaf  preached  (Nov.  22d)  at 
Bedminster,  and  accompanied  (Nov.  2/th  to  Dec.  4th)  his 
patron  on  a  tour  to  Hackensack,  on  which  both  of  them, 
crossing  a  river,  were  exposed  to  considerable  peril  of  life. 
On  Dec.  2d,  Graaf  preached  in  the  Hackensack  church. 
Miihlenberg  spoke  to  some  of  the  church-officers  about  him 
as  one  suited  to  adminster  there  in  holy  things.  During  his 
former  visit  he  had  proposed  Hartwig  to  them  as  pastor,  but 
while  they  gave  him  full  credit  for  his  ability  as  a  preacher  and 
his  Christian  character,  knowing  well  his  peculiarities  they  did 
not  wish  him  as  a  pastor.  With  Graaf  s  preaching  they  were 
not  displeased,  but  thought  Miihlenberg  ought  to  keep  him 
yet  for  some  time  as  a  student.  Dec.  6th,  Mrs.  Miihlenberg 
returned  with  two  of  her  children,  in  company  with  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Graaf,  to  Pennsylvania.  Three  children  remained  with 
the  father,  who  as  time  and  circumstances  permitted  gave 
them  instruction.  One  of  them — Peter,  who  now  made  an 
acquaintance  with  a  part  of  the  country  which  in  later  years 
was  useful  to  him  in  much  higher  interests — accompanied 
(Dec.  3  ist)  his  father  from  New  Germantown  to  Bedminster. 
Both  were  on  horseback.  Peter  was  then  in  his  fourteenth 
year.  Somewhat  later  his  father  puts  down  in  his  diary  this 
characteristic  remark  about  him :  "  He  does  not  care  much 
about  female  society,  but  is  bent  on  fishing  and  hunting." 
On  that  occasion  Muhlenberg  found  at  Bedminster  a  con- 
siderable number  of  young  people  assembled,  who  gave  proof 
of  their  ability  to  sing  English  psalms.  After  this  exercise 
he  began  to  catechise  them,  but  says  their  singing  was  better 
than  their  replies.  On  the  same  evening  arrived  Jacob  van 
Buskirk,  a  scion  of  the  well-known  and  highly-respected  Van 
Buskirk  family  of  Hackensack.  We  entertain  no  doubt  that 
the  happy  influence  of  Muhlenberg  had  moved  this  young 
21 


322  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

man  to  prepare  himself  for  the  service  of  the  Church.  For 
some  years  he  had  been  under  -the  preparatory  tuition  of  Wey- 
gand  ;  now  he  became  a  student  under  Muhlenberg.  When 
Schaum  moved  to  Berks  county,  Pa.,  in  April,  i762,Van  Buskirk 
took  his  place  at  New  Hanover,  was  ordained  in  1763,  in  1765 
was  called  to  Germantown,  in  1769  to  Macungie,  with  which 
Salisbury  (Salzburg),  Saccum,  and  Upper  Milford  were  then 
united,  in  1793  to  Gwynedd,  Whitpain,  and  Upper  Dublin, 
but  was  recalled  to  Macungie  in  1795,  and  died,  much  beloved 
and  universally  respected,  on  the  occasion  of  a  visit  to  Gwyn- 
edd, Aug.  5,  1800,  at  the  age  of  sixty-one  years  five  months 
and  twenty-six  days. 

June  15,  1760,  Muhlenberg,  accompanied  by  his  son  Peter 
and  Jacob  van  Buskirk,  set  out  for  Pennsylvania,  and  arrived 
on  the  following  day  at  his  home  at  Providence;  returned, 
however  (March  26th)  again,  with  Will.  Graaf,  to  the  Raritan 
congregations,  and  ministered  to  them  in  spiritual  things. 
April  3d,  Jacob  van  Buskirk  proceeded  to  Hackensack  to 
arrange  his  own  affairs  there  and  those  of  Graaf,  who  set  out 
(April  2Oth)  with  his  wife  for  that  district.  To  the  Lutherans 
of  this  district  his  services  were  devoted  until,  in  1775,  he 
was  elected  pastor  of  the  Raritan  congregations,  and  lived  and 
labored  among  them  until  he  died,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years, 
in  1809,  and  was  buried  at  the  New  Germantown  cemetery. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  323 


CHAPTER   XX. 

1752  et  seq.  (continued}. 

Miihlenberg  and  the  Raritan  congregations. — Death  of  J.  C.  Weiser. — Rev.  P.  D. 
Prizelius. — Miihlenberg  declines  a  call  to  Nova  Scotia. — Charity  schools 
among  the  Germans  in  Pennsylvania. — Rev.  W.  Smith,  D.  D. — Benjamin 
Franklin. — Politics  mixed  with  benevolence. — Christopher  Sauer. — Miihlen- 
berg's  relation  to  the  charity  schools. — They  cease  to  be  supported. 

MUHLENBERG  returned  to  Pennsylvania  May  2,  1760. 
He  was  still  the  responsible  pastor  of  the  Raritan  con- 
gregations, but  his  personal  presence  and  pastoral  activity 
among  them  had  now  come  to  an  end,  though  he  had  not  paid 
them  his  last  visit.  He  continued,  however,  in  providing  to 
the  best  of  his  ability  for  their  spiritual  wants,  to  discharge 
his  official  obligations  to  them,  and  to  acknowledge  the  high 
regard  in  which  he  was  held  there,  and  the  close  and  tender 
attachment  which  those  congregations  and  many  other  friends 
had  formed  for  him.  In  June,  1760,  J.  Nic.  Kurtz  visited  these 
congregations,  and  served  them  a  number  of  weeks,  while 
Miihlenberg  paid  attention  to  the  Tulpehoken  churches  of 
Kurtz,  and  also  to  the  congregation  at  Reading.  On  this 
occasion  Miihlenberg  had  (June  iQth  to  25th)  most  agreeable 
intercourse  with  his  father-in-law,  J.  Conrad  Weiser,  Esq.  It 
was  the  last  time  he  met  him  on  earth.  After  two  days  of  severe 
sickness  Weiser  was  called  to  his  rest  July  1 3th,  in  his  sixty- 
fourth  year,  and  was  buried  on  his  farm  at  Heidelberg,  a  few 
miles  west  of  Reading,  deeply  lamented,  not  only  by  his  fam- 
ily, but  also  on  account  of  his  great  and  far-reaching  useful- 
ness and  the  probity  of  his  character,  by  all  Pennsylvania  and 
by  many  living  far  beyond  her  boundaries.  A  most  interest- 
ing and  beautifully-written  sketch  of  Weiser's  life  and  charac- 


324  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

ter  in  the  Continuation  of  the  Halle  Reports  we  owe  to  the  hand 
of  Miihlenberg :  it  is  eminent  among  those  many  and  instruct- 
ive "  Examples  "  taken  from  pastoral  life  which  form  an  essen- 
tial part  of  the  Reports,  and  prove  the  conscientious  manner 
in  which  Miihlenberg  dealt  with  the  individual  cases  coming 
under  his  pastoral  care  and  attention. 

It  appears  that  in  consequence  of  correspondence  carried 
on  with  the  Raritan  congregations  Miihlenberg  sent  to  them, 
at  the  beginning  of  1761,  the  Rev.  Paul  Daniel  Prizelius  (the 
name  in  our  historical  sources  is  given  in  various  forms),  a 
native  of  Sweden  and  an  alumnus  of  the  University  of  Upsala, 
who  during  a  protracted  sojourn  in  Germany  had  joined  the 
Moravians,  and  in  the  beginning  of  1742  came  with  Zinzendorf 
to  Philadelphia.  He  also  styled  himself  a  Swedish  Lutheran 
minister,  but  was  not  acknowledged  by  the  Swedish  pastors, 
to  whom  his  Moravianism  was  well  known.  In  the  interests 
of  the  same  cause  he  labored  until  1745  among  Swedish  set- 
tlers on  each  side  of  the  Delaware  south  of  Philadelphia,  and 
for  a  number  of  years  afterward  was  engaged  in  furthering 
the  same  interests  in  other  localities.  It  seems,  however,  that 
in  the  course  of  time,  and  especially  through  the  influence  of 
the  Swedish  provost,  Dr.  C.  M.  Wrangel,  Prizelius  changed 
his  views,  and,  after  a  thorough  examination  and  a  declaration 
given  in  writing  fully  stating  his  doctrinal  and  confessional  con- 
victions, was  received  (Oct.  29, 1760)  into  the  German  Lutheran 
Ministerium  by  act  of  synod,  and  then,  with  excellent  recom- 
mendations from  Miihlenberg  of  his  learning  and  piety,  and 
also  of  the  excellent  character  and  other  suitable  qualities  of  his 
wife,  sent  to  the  Raritan  congregations,  where  he  now  served 
in  German  and  in  English.  His  knowledge  of  the  English  he 
had  acquired  during  his  stay  in  England  and  Ireland,  where  he 
had  had  intercourse  with  Whitefield.  A  regular  call  was  given 
him  by  the  Raritan  congregations  in  1765,  but,  in  consequence 
of  dissensions  between  him  and  the  people,  he  left  in  1776  for 
England ;  received  Episcopal  ordination  there  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  Rev.  W.  Smith,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia,  and 
was  after  his  return,  in  1767,  called  to  Lunenburg,  Nova  Scotia, 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  $2$ 

where  in  1753  or  sooner  Germans  had  settled  and  formed  a 
Lutheran  congregation.  He  used  there  a  German  translation 
of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  sub  rosa  received  per- 
mission to  confirm  catechumens,  but,  in  consequence  of  his 
endeavor  to  unite  Episcopalianism  and  Lutheranism,  gave  no 
satisfaction,  and  left  after  a  short  time. 

Already,  in  1755,  Muhlenberg,  through  the  influence  of 
Rev.  Mich.  Schlatter,  then  chaplain  to  the  English  army,  had 
received  a  call  from  the  governor  of  Nova  Scotia  to  the  con- 
gregations at  Lunenburg  and  Halifax  to  serve  among  the 
German  and  English  at  a  salary  of  seventy  pounds  sterling, 
and  twenty  pounds  in  addition  provided  he  would  devote 
some  time  to  the  instruction  of  the  youth.  He  says :  "  All 
natural  feelings  did  not  disincline  me  to  spend  my  last  hours 
in  a  locality  where  I  would  have  opportunity  to  serve  the 
Church  and  her  schools,  to  bring  up  my  seven  children  in  a 
respectable  way,  and  would  be  released  from  this  never-ceas- 
ing being  on  horseback,  which  injures  the  vigor  of  body  and 
soul ;  but,  not  being  able  to  reach  a  hasty  resolution  in  such 
important  matters,  I  petitioned  for  time  to  consider  and  pray 
over  this  proposition,  to  ponder  well  all  the  circumstances,  so 
as  to  recognize  the  gracious  will  of  God.  It  was  subsequent- 
ly made  clear  to  me  that  it  was  not  according  to  the  will  of 
God."  Rev.  Daniel  Schuhmacher,  who  labored  in  the  years 
1755—58  at  Reading,  Pa.,  was  not  a  member  of  synod,  could 
not  prove  his  ordination,  and,  as  Muhlenberg  states  in  his 
diary,  was  anything  but  exemplary  in  his  walk  and  conversa- 
tion ;  before  his  arrival  in  Pennsylvania  he  served  at  Lunen- 
burg, Nova  Scotia,  and  said  at  that  time  the  congregation 
there  had  been  too  poor  to  sustain  him. 

We  are  fully  aware  of  the  great  interest  which  throughout 
his  life  Muhlenberg  took  in  Christian  schools  and  the  Chris- 
tian education  of  the  children.  He  was  often  and  at  various 
localities  engaged  in  teaching.  He  entertained  in  the  years 
1750-60  the  plan  of  establishing  an  orphan-house  for  the 
Lutheran  churches  under  the  care  of  synod,  and  frequently 
refers  to  it  in  his  letters  to  Europe.  He  desired  his  orphan- 


326  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

house  also  to  serve  as  a  school  for  training  teachers  and  pas- 
tors as  they  might  be  needed.  He  was  grieved  to  find  that 
want  of  means  prevented  the  execution  of  his  design.  That 
a  proposition  originating  among  English  people  and  aiming 
to  establish,  in  behalf  of  the  children  of  the  German  immi- 
grants in  Pennsylvania,  free  or  charity  schools,  addressed  itself 
at  once  to  his  sympathy,  we  can  easily  understand.  Had  this 
plan  been  kept  free  from  other  interests,  it  might  have  done 
much  good,  and  would  have  found  no  more  intelligent,  ener- 
getic, and  persevering  supporter  than  Muhlenberg. 

As  the  prime  mover  in  this  work  we  recognize  the  Rev.  W. 
Smith,  D.  D.,  who  was  born  1727  at  Aberdeenshire,  Scotland, 
matriculated  in  1741  in  Aberdeen  University,  and  published  in 

1750,  in  London,  an  address  to  the  leading  men  in  Parliament 
called  the  Memorial  for  the  Established  and  Parochial  School- 
masters in  Scotland,  etc.,  and  an  Essay  on  Liberty  of  the  Press. 
It  is  probable  that  he  held  in  London  the  position  of  a  clerk 
of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel.     March  3, 

1751,  he  embarked  as  tutor  with  two  young  Americans  re- 
turning to  their  native  country,  landed  at  New  York  May  I, 
took   up  his  residence  on   Long   Island  with   Colonel   Mar- 
tin, the  father  of  his  pupils,  and  published  during  his  stay 
there,  in  1753,  a  few  articles,  and  under  an  assumed  name  a 
plan  for  the  establishment. of  a  college  in  New  Jersey.    About 
that  time  Princeton  College,  New  Jersey — of  which  the  first 
charter  dates   1746,  the  second   1748 — was   going   into  ope- 
ration.   Smith,  however,  was  an  Episcopalian.    He  sent  copies 
of  his  pamphlet  to  the  Rev.  Rich.  Peters,  from  1742  provincial 
secretary  of  Pennsylvania  and  clerk  of  the  council  of  the  prov- 
ince, and  to  Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin,  at  that  time  president  of 
the  board  of  trustees  of  the  academy  and  charity  school  at 
Philadelphia,  founded  1749,  incorporated  1753,  raised  to  the 
rank  of  a  college  1755,  to  that  of  a  university  in  1779.    Peters 
and  Franklin  recognized  Smith  as  the  man  well  qualified  to 
be  at  the  head  of  the  Philadelphia  institution  of  learning. 
Having  by  a  visit  in  Philadelphia,  in  June,  1753,  formed  their 
personal  acquaintance,  he  re-embarked  the  same  year  for  Eng- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  327 

land  and  there  (Dec.  1 3th)  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  concerning  the  "  melancholy 
situation,  through  want  of  instructors  and  their  utter  inability 
to  maintain  them,"  of  the  German  Protestants  in  Pennsylvania, 
"  with  the  distressing  prospect  of  approaching  darkness  and 
idolatry  among  them,  as  these  things  have  been  represented 
to  their  fellow-Protestants  in  Europe  in  the  most  moving 
terms." 

We  know  that  Miihlenberg,  Schlatter,  the  Moravian  mis- 
sionaries, and  others  gave  truthful  descriptions  of  the  spirit- 
ual destitution  of  the  German  settlers  in  Pennsylvania.  The 
efforts  of  these  men  to  improve  the  intellectual,  religious,  and 
moral  condition  of  the  settlers  were  free  from  any  other  inter- 
est. This  we  cannot  say  of  the  movement  of  Smith  and  his 
friends  in  Pennsylvania ;  which,  however,  does  not  mean  that 
we  ascribe  to  him  and  to  them  sinister  motives ;  but  we  main- 
tain that  their  interest  in  behalf , of  the  intellectual  and  moral 
culture  of  the  Germans  in  Pennsylvania  was  not  without  some 
political  alloy.  Immigration  from  Germany,  particularly  in 
those  years,  was  going  on  at  a  very  rapid  rate.  It  is  main- 
tained by  some  historians  that  a  short  time  after  the  middle 
of  the  last  century  the  Germans  composed  the  half  of  the 
total  population  of  Pennsylvania.  It  appeared  very  possible 
that  if  this  influx  should  continue  in  the  same  proportion 
they  would  at  least  numerically  exceed  the  English  part  of 
the  inhabitants,  and  the  continued  dominion  of  the  English 
language  as  the  governmental,  official  language  would  be 
jeopardized.  Besides,  in  those  years  an  outbreak  of  the  con- 
flict with  the  French  plans  and  forces  became  more  and  more 
imminent.  The  political  party  which  favored  preparations 
for  the  military  defence  of  the  frontiers,  and  of  which  Franklin 
was  the  leader,  did  not  hold  the  reins  of  governmental  power; 
but  they  were  in  the  hands  of  the  Quakers,  who  strenuously 
and  obstinately  laid  impediments  in  the  way  of  every  military 
measure.  The  Germans  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania  were  in  this 
matter  largely  in  sympathy  with  the  Quakers — partly  on  ac- 
count of  their  moral  principles,  held  by  numbers  of  them  in 


328  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

connection  with  their  peculiar  religious  persuasions,  partly, 
and  much  more  extensively,  because  the  no-war  standard  was 
with  them  identical  with  the  no-tax  imposition.  They  con- 
sequently served  to  uphold  the  political  power  of  the  Quakers, 
which  to  Franklin  and  his  friends  in  those  days — not  without 
good  reason — appeared  to  be  a  great  misfortune  to  the  prov- 
ince and  to  the  whole  country.  There  was  also  lurking  in 
the  background — or  at  least  used  as  a  pretext — the  fear  that 
the  Germans  might  secretly  be  influenced  by  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic emissaries  of  the  French.  The  Moravians,  who,  on  ac- 
count of  the  daring  enterprises  of  their  heroic  missionaries  in 
distant  parts  and  in  the  nearer  settlements  in  Pennsylvania, 
were  in  constant  intercourse  with  the  Indians,  then  generally 
suspected  of  disloyalty,  and  afterward,  on  account  of  their 
cruel  and  barbarous  atrocities,  intensely  hated  by  many,  were 
exposed  to  the  worst  suspicions  of  favoring  the  French.  Their 
purely  religious  and  philanthropic  principles  and  measures 
were  misunderstood  and  misinterpreted.  Roman  Catholicism 
was  considered  by  thousands  as  the  power  secretly  working  to 
undermine  and  to  destroy  the  Protestant  religion  and  its  rep- 
resentative power,  the  English  government.  Smith,  referring 
to  the  danger  to  which  the  Germans  were  exposed  of  again 
falling  into  "idolatry,"  means  perhaps  no  more  than  the 
Roman  Catholic  forms  of  worship.  The  state  of  feeling  in 
this  direction  is  peculiarly  illustrated  by  a  letter  sent  after 
Braddock's  defeat,  July  23,  1755,  to  Governor  Morris  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  signed  by  the  five  justices  of  the  peace  of  Berks 
county — among  them  J.  Conrad  Weiser.  It  says :  "  As  all 
our  Protestant  inhabitants  are  very  uneasy  at  the  behavior 
of  the  Roman  Catholics,  who  are  very  numerous  in  this  coun- 
ty, some  of  whom  show  great  joy  at  the  bad  news  lately  come 
from  the  army,  we  have  thought  it  our  duty  to  inform  Your 
Honor  of  our  dangerous  situation,  and  to  beg  Your  Honor  to 
enable  us  by  some  legal  authority  to  disarm  or  otherwise  dis- 
able the  Papists  from  doing  any  injury  to  other  people  who 
are  not  of  their  vile  principles.  We  know  that  the  people  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  are  bound  by  their  principles  to 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  329 

be  the  worst  subjects  and  worst  of  neighbors,  and  we  have 
reason  to  fear  just  at  this  time  that  the  Roman  Catholics  in 
Cussahoppen  [Goshenhoppen],  where  they  have  a  very  mag- 
nificent chapel  and  lately  had  large  processions,  have  had  bad 
designs ;  for  in  the  neighborhood  of  that  chapel  it  is  reported, 
and  generally  believed,  that  thirty  Indians  are  now  lurking, 
well  armed  with  guns  and  swords  and  cutlasses.  The  priest 
at  Reading  as  well  as  at  Cussahoppen  last  Sunday  gave  notice 
to  their  people  that  they  could  not  come  to  them  again  in  less 
than  nine  weeks,  whereas  they  constantly  preach  once  in  four 
weeks  in  their  congregations ;  whereupon  some  imagine  they 
are  gone  to  consult  with  our  enemies  at  Duquesne.  It  is  a 
great  unhappiness  at  this  time  to  the  other  people  of  this  prov- 
ince that  the  Papists  should  keep  arms  in  their  houses,  against 
which  the  Protestants  are  not  prepared,  who,  therefore,  are 
subject  to  a  massacre  whenever  the  Papists  are  ready." 

We  can  easily  understand  that  the  increase  of  the  numerical 
strength  of  the  Germans  in  Pennsylvania,  with  but  little  oppor- 
tunity to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  English  language,  could  in 
various  ways — also  in  the  administration  of  the  government  and 
its  laws — produce  considerable  inconvenience.  This  Smith  in- 
dicates, saying:  "  In  courts  of  judicature  interpreters  are  con- 
stantly wanted  through  the  vast  increase  of  German  business, 
and  may  soon  be  wanted  in  the  Assembly  itself  to  tell  one 
half  of  the  legislature  what  the  other  half  says."  Convinced 
that  a  diversity  of  languages  in  one  and  the  same  political 
body  might  prove  a  great  impediment  to  strength  and  prog- 
ress, he  advocated  the  establishment  of  schools  in  the  Ger- 
man districts  of  Pennsylvania  in  which  not  only  the  German, 
but  also  the  English,  language  should  be  taught,  while  relig- 
ion according  to  the  tenets  of  each  party  represented  by  the 
pupils  should  not  be  excluded.  To  this  end  contributions 
were  solicited  from  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  and  from  individuals,  and  were  liberally  granted.  In 
his  address  to  the  society  Smith  says :  "  The  masters  of  such 
schools  can  only  be  found  in  America.  They  must  under- 
stand the  English  and  High  Dutch  [!],  mathematics,  geog- 


330  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

raphy,   drawing,   history,  ethics,  with   the   constitution   and 
interests  of  the  colonies." 

Dr.  Smith  while  staying  in  England  was  ordained  a  dea- 
con Dec.  21,  1753 ;  two  days  later,  a  priest.  March  15,  1754, 
he  was  present  at  a  meeting  of  the  Society  for  the  Propaga- 
tion of  the  Gospel.  It  was  owing  to  his  influence  that  "  a 
number  of  noblemen  and  gentlemen  in  England,  being  appre- 
hensive that  the  ignorance  of  the  German  emigrants  settled  in 
Pennsylvania  might  render  them  liable  to  be  led  away  from 
the  British  interests  by  French  emissaries,  and  being,  also, 
greatly  desirous  of  giving  them  means  of  continuing  the  free 
exercise  of  that  religion  among  them  for  which  very  purpose 
they  had  migrated  from  the  land  of  their  nativity  to  those 
parts,  formed  themselves  into  a  society,  and  requested  Dr. 
Samuel  Chandler,  an  English  dissenter  of  prominence,  and 
then  secretary  of  the  society,  to  address  a  letter  to  certain 
gentlemen  in  Pennsylvania,  appointing  them  their  trustees, 
etc."  Chandler  wrote  the  letter.  The  gentlemen  appointed 
trustees  were  James  Hamilton,  lieutenant-governor;  William 
Allen,  chief-justice  of  Pennsylvania;  Richard  Peters,  secre- 
tary of  Pennsylvania;  Benjamin  Franklin,  postmaster-gen- 
eral ;  Conrad  Weiser,  interpreter ;  and  the  Rev.  Will.  Smith. 
The  letter  is  dated  March  15,  1754.  It  is  apparent  that  the 
whole  plan  was  fully  prepared  before  Smith  set  out  for  Eng- 
land. It  was  a  judicious  measure  to  make  Weiser,  who 
understood  English  as  well  as  German  and  had  most  influ- 
ence among  the  Germans,  one  of  the  trustees.  The  society 
had  also  requested  the  trustees  to  "  accept  gf  the  inspection 
and  management  of  the  whole  charity  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
particularly  to  assist,  encourage,  and  counsel  the  Rev.  Mich. 
Schlatter,  whom  the  society  has  ordered,  with  a  salary  of  one 
hundred  pounds  sterling,  made,  under  your  direction,  to  be 
their  supervisor  and  visitor  of  the  schools  they  had  agreed  to 
erect  in  Reading,  York,  Easton,  Lancaster,  Schippach,  and 
Hanover,  where  the  Germans  are  settled.  The  intention  of 
the  schools  is  to  instruct  their  youth  in  the  English  language 
and  the  common  principles  of  the  Christian  religion  and  mo- 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  331 

rality.  The  schoolmasters  must  understand  both  languages, 
German  and  English,  and  the  proper  persons  may  be  found 
in  the  province/'  The  plan  to  send  over  German  ministers 
was  also  entertained,  but,  probably  by  the  advice  of  the  trus- 
tees, was  never  carried  out. 

Smith  returned  to  Philadelphia  May  22,  1754,  and  was  on 
the  24th  inducted  into  office  as  provost  of  the  college  and 
academy  of  Philadelphia  and  professor  of  natural  philosophy. 
To  advanced  scholars  he  lectured  also  on  ethics  and  rhetoric. 
The  trustees  appointed  in  England  held  their  first  meeting 
Aug.  10,  1754.  They  had  opened  correspondence  with  indi- 
viduals whose  advice  was  valuable,  but,  the  intentions  of  the 
board  becoming  known,  great  opposition  was  soon  excited. 
No  one  was  more  antagonistic  to  the  whole  plan  than  Chris- 
topher Sauer,  printer  and  publisher  at  Germantown,  the  editor 
of  a  German  periodical  which  exercised  much  influence  among 
the  Germans.  Sauer,  who  in  1743  had  published  the  first 
American  edition  of  Luther's  translation  of  the  Bible,  by  his 
peculiar  religious  views  was  in  affinity  with  the  Quakers  in 
his  anti-war  principles.  He  fully  believed  in  Christianity  as 
he  understood  it,  but  was  convinced  that  it  would  have  been 
better  for  Christianity  and  the  world  if  there  never  had  been 
a  "  Church,"  and  was  totally  opposed  to  a  Church  clergy, 
against  whom  in  a  very  irritating  manner  he  continually  made 
insinuations  and  aroused  the  ill-will  of  the  people.  His  intel- 
lectual horizon  was  a  very  narrow  one.  True  it  is  that  the 
"  vagabond  preachers,"  of  whom  there  were  in  those  days  so 
many  in  Pennsylvania,  gave  him  ample  cause  of  complaint, 
but  he  was  grossly  unjust  in  not  discriminating  between  them 
and  the  better  class  of  pastors,  whose  happy  and  most  desir- 
able influence  he  in  his  indiscriminate  way  also  undermined 
and  counteracted.  He  was  right  in  maintaining  that  the  con- 
dition of  the  Germans  was  by  no  means  so  abominable  as  had 
been  reported,  and  that  the  scheme  of  the  charity  schools  had 
a  political  view  which  was  not  to  his  taste.  On  this  head  what 
we  read  in  a  letter  addressed  by  the  Pennsylvania  trustees  to 
the  society  in  London,  Philadelphia,  Sept.  24, 1756,  may  suffice: 


332  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

"  Nothing  in  this  whole  business  gives  us  more  real  satisfac- 
tion than  to  be  strongly  assured  in  your  letter  of  Jan.  28,  1/55? 
that  the  whole  of  what  you  aim  is  not  to  proselyte  the  Ger- 
mans to  any  particular  denomination,  but  (leaving  all  of  them 
to  the  entire  liberty  of  their  own  judgments  in  speculative  and 
disputed  points)  to  spread  the  knowledge  of  the  avowed,  un- 
controverted  principles  of  religion  and  morality  among  them, 
to  render  them  acquainted  with  the  English  language  and 
constitution,  to  form  them  into  good  subjects  of  His  Majesty 
King  George,  whose  protection  they  enjoy,  and  make  them 
friends  of  that  nation  which  has  received  them  into  her  bos- 
om, blessed  them  with  liberty,  and  given  them  a  share  in  her 
invaluable  privileges."  Such  opinions  Sauer  interpreted  in 
his  own  way.  His  charging  the  society  with  the  intention  of 
depriving,  under  a  charitable  pretext,  the  Germans  of  their 
native  language,  and  of  making  them  servants  of  the  Pro- 
prietors and  of  their  representatives,  and  forcing  them  to  sell 
their  plantations,  was  a  mere  pretence  to  arouse  bad  feelings 
among  the  Germans.  Sauer  was  never  scrupulous  about  the 
means  he  used  to  accomplish  his  purpose.  Sept.  6,  1756,  the 
governor  laid  before  the  Provincial  Council  a  letter  of  Weiser 
wherein  it  was  stated  that  the  people  had  been  made  extreme- 
ly hostile  to  the  Proprietaries  and  the  governor  by  insinuations 
thrown  out  in  Sauer's  periodical,  especially  in  the  numbers  of 
Aug.  1 6th  and  2Qth,  wherein  a  false  interpretation  was  given 
of  the  late  transactions  of  this  government  with  the  Indians, 
and  a  suggestion  that  their  hostility  was  owing  to  the  Pro- 
prietaries' covetousness  in  not  paying  them  the  full  equiva- 
lent for  their  lands. 

The  trustees  found  difficulties  enough  in  carrying  out  their 
scheme  of  establishing  schools  in  the  districts  settled  by  the 
Germans.  One  of  them  was  to  find  properly-qualified  teach- 
ers who  were  masters  of  bbth  languages.  In  the  Philadelphia 
academy  there  were  a  number  of  children  of  poor  parents  who 
spoke  German  and  English ;  it  was  thought  that  after  some  time 
they  might  be  advanced  to  serve  as  teachers.  Smith  reported 
that  he  had  prevailed  upon  Brunnholtz  to  board  in  his  house 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  333 

a  young  man,  Samuel  Magaw,  in  later  years  rector  of  St. 
Paul's,  doctor  of  divinity,  and  vice-provost  of  the  university, 
that  he  might  rpake  further  progress  in  the  German  lan- 
guage. 

To  gain  information  and  advice  from  one  who  thoroughly 
knew  the  Germans,  their  condition,  way  of  thinking,  and  man- 
ners, Franklin  addressed  himself  to  Miihlenberg,  and  read  his 
answer  before  the  board  of  trustees.  Miihlenberg  rejoices  in 
hearing  of  the  scheme  for  promoting  among  the  Germans  in 
Pennsylvania  the  knowledge  of  God  and  for  making  them 
loyal  subjects  of  the  venerated  Protestant  throne  of  Great 
Britain.  He  was  pleased  that  the  management  of  that  char- 
ity was  entrusted  to  such  impartial  persons.  But,  as  long 
experience  had  made  him  acquainted  with  almost  every  part 
of  Pennsylvania  and  with  the  temper  and  circumstances  of  his 
countrymen,  he  much  feared  some  ill-minded  persons  would 
strive  to  defeat  so  just  and  noble  a  scheme,  as  they  had  of 
late  done  many  others,  to  the  offence  of  many  thousand  igno- 
rant but  well-meaning  souls,  unless  proper  measures  were 
taken  to  prevent  it.  Chr.  Sauer,  he  observed,  who  printed  a 
German  newspaper  which  was  universally  read  by  the  Ger- 
mans all  over  Pennsylvania  and  the  neighboring  colonies,  was 
making  haste  to  prejudice  them  against  the  scheme,  as  might 
be  seen  by  extracts  from  his  paper.  Miihlenberg  further  re- 
marks that  Franklin  had  at  great  expense  set  up  another  Ger- 
man press  to  rescue  the  Germans  out  of  Sauer's  hands  and  the 
bonds  of  those  whose  interest  it  was  to  keep  them  in  igno- 
rance ;  but  for  the  want  of  a  German  printer  of  sufficient  skill, 
and  of  a  correspondence  necessary  to  support  such  a  paper  as 
Franklin  had  undertaken,  Sauer  had  the  advantage,  continuing 
to  turn  the  Germans  against  their  clergy  and  every  one  who 
endeavored  to  bring  them  to  good  order  in  Church  and  State 
affairs.  Miihlenberg  furthermore  says  that  he  himself  had 
attempted  to  buy  a  printing-press,  to  serve  by  this  means  his 
countrymen  and  to  instil  into  them  sound  notions  concerning 
the  inestimable  privileges  they  enjoy  under  the  British  Protest- 
ant government ;  he  had,  however,  on  account  of  his  increas- 


334  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

ing  family  and  straitened  circumstances,  been  obliged  to  drop 
his  design.  He  proposes  to  the  trustees  that  they  buy  a 
press  and  edit  a  newspaper,  almanacs,  etc.  of  a  proper  cha- 
racter. He  would  be  willing,  under  the  trustees,  to  direct 
such  a  press — to  use  his  whole  influence  among  the  people 
and  his  brethren  to  support  it.  He  had  no  doubt  of  the  suc- 
cess of  such  a  paper,  and  would  to  this  end  open  correspond- 
ence with  friends  throughout  the  colonies.  He  lamented  the 
riotous,  disloyal,  irreligious  character  of  many  Germans,  who 
were  stirred  up  against  regularly-ordained  and  pious  pastors 
by  vicious  vagabonds  who  came  without  orders  and  creden- 
tials and  enjoy  all  liberty  to  do  their  nefarious  work.  He 
proceeds  to  depict  a  few  specimens  of  this  kind — Carl  Ru- 
dolph and  Engelland — and  says,  "  There  were  many  more  of 
the  same  sort  which  we  shall  never  get  rid  of,  nor  reduce  the 
people  to  proper  order  until  our  gracious  superiors  are  pleased 
to  demand  proper  credentials  of  all  who  exercise  the  minis- 
try, and  no  longer  suffer  vagabonds  to  laugh  at  us,  who  are 
regular  clergymen,  by  saying  it  is  a  free  country,  and  by  turn- 
ing liberty  into  licentiousness."  Miihlenberg  added  to  his  letter 
portions  of  Sauer's  paper  translated  into  English. 

We  see  that  Miihlenberg  acknowledged  the  good  contained 
in  the  scheme  of  the  charity  schools.  He  knew  well  enough 
how  much  well-kept  schools  were  needed  among  the  Ger- 
mans, and  how  much  the  rising  generation  would  be  benefited 
by  them ;  but  he  felt  deeply  that  to  the  wicked  characters  en- 
tirely too  much  freedom  was  given  to  destroy  all  the  good 
which  right-minded  persons  endeavored  to  do.  In  agreement 
with  his  representations,  the  trustees  resolved  to  send  out  a 
printed  account  of  the  real  design  of  the  "  Society  for  Propa- 
gating Christian  Knowledge"  among  the  Germans,  couched 
in  the  most  unexceptional  language ;  also  to  buy  a  press,  en- 
gage a  suitable  printer,  and  publish  a  newspaper. 

At  a  subsequent  meeting  of  the  board,  Aug.  23,  1754,  pe- 
titions were  presented  from  Providence,  New  Hanover,  and 
other  localities  requesting  the  board  to  establish  chanty 
schools,  and  to  use  for  this  purpose  the  school-houses  erected 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  335 

by  various  congregations.  Lutherans  and  Reformed  united 
here  and  there  for  this  end.  The  work  was  actually  begun  : 
schools  were  established  in  1755  a^  Providence,  New  Hanover, 
Vincent,  Reading,  Tulpehoken,  Lancaster,  York,  and  other 
places.  Rev.  M.  Schlatter  was  appointed  inspector  of  the 
schools.  Pastors  of  Lutheran  and  Reformed  congregations 
were  engaged  as  catechists,  to  attend  to  the  religious  instruc- 
tion of  the  children  according  to  the  denomination  to  which 
they  belonged.  The  editing  of  a  German  newspaper  was 
begun  at  Philadelphia,  and  Handschuh  had  the  supervision 
of  it.*  In  a  short  time  there  were  upward  of  four  hundred 
subscribers  to  it,  which  was  a  promising  beginning.  It  was 
also  intended  to  give  some  poor  children  a  higher  education 
in  the  Philadelphia  academy,  to  take  up  Indian  children  and 
to  instruct  them,  and  to  distribute  religious  literature  among 
the  Germans. 

Admitting  that  there  was  ample  room  in  Pennsylvania  for 
the  general  features  of  an  educational  scheme  as  represented 
by  the  charity  schools,  we  can  see  many  reasons  why  it  could 
not  succeed  well  for  any  length  of  time.  The  whole  enterprise 
contained  a  seeming  reproach  to  the  German  population.  It 
may  not  have  been  intended,  but  it  was  felt  as  such.  It  put 
the  Germans  into  a  position  of  utter  inability  to  take  care  of 
themselves  and  of  their  children  in  the  matter  of  intellectual, 
moral,  and  religious  culture.  To  this  must  be  added  the  im- 
pression created  by  the  influence  of  Sauer  and  of  others,  who 
operated  upon  the  credulous  minds  of  a  population  not  able 
to  take  an  independent  position  and  consider  and  solve  the 
questions  involved  in  the  scheme.  The  absurdities  published 
by  Sauer,  though  never  so  great,  nevertheless  controlled  the 
feelings  and  the  opinions  of  many.  In  a  letter  of  Sept.  5, 
1755,  he  says  that  he  had  been  thinking  whether  it  was  really 

*  The  title  was  "Philadelphische  Zeitung  -von  allerhand  auswaertigen  und  ein- 
heimischen  merkwiirdigen  Sachen.  Philad.  Gedrukt  und  zu  haben  bey  Benj. 
Franklin,  General  Postmeister,  und  A.  Armbruster,  in  der  Markt  Strasse,  das  jahr 
fiir  3  schillinge."  What  we  have  of  this  paper  indicates  no  originality.  There 
are  no  leaders ;  the  whole  is  very  commonplace. 


336  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

true  that  Gilbert  Tennent  (a  prominent  Presbyterian  pastor  at 
Philadelphia),  Schlatter,  Peters,  Hamilton,  Allen,  Smith,  Frank- 
lin, Miihlenberg,  Brunnholtz,  Handschuh,  and  others  have  the 
slightest  care  for  the  real  conversion  of  the  ignorant  portion 
of  the  Germans  in  Pennsylvania,  or  whether  the  institution  of 
the  free  schools  is  not  rather  the  foundation  to  bring  the  coun- 
try into  servitude,  so  that  each  of  them  may  look  for  and 
have  his  own  interest  and  advantage.  Again :  "  Concerning 
Hamilton,  Peters,  Allen,  Shippen,  and  Franklin,  I  know  that 
they  care  very  little  about  religion ;  nor  do  they  care  for  the 
cultivation  of  the  minds  of  the  Germans,  except  that  they 
should  form  the  militia  and  defend  their  properties.  Such 
people  do  not  know  what  it  is  to  have  faith  and  confidence  in 
God,  but  they  are  mortified  that  they  cannot  compel  others  to 
defend  their  goods."  Such  things,  and  even  worse,  Sauer  pub- 
lished at  a  time  when,  after  the  defeat  at  Fort  Duquesne,  the 
Indians  broke  in  upon  the  settled  frontiers  in  Pennsylvania 
and  committed  all  sorts  of  cruel  atrocities.  But  it  cannot  be  de- 
nied that  there  were  interests  on  the  other  side;  that  there  was 
in  the  scheme  of  those  schools  some  ulterior  object  in  view; 
that  it  did  not  proceed  from  pure,  unalloyed  charity;  that  po- 
litical party  proclivities,  and  even  certain  ecclesiastical  party 
interests,  were  connected  with  it.  The  biographer  of  Rev.  W. 
Smith,  Horace  Wemyss  Smith,  to  whom  we  owe  a  more  de- 
tailed knowledge  of  the  whole  history  of  the  plan  of  the 
Pennsylvania  charity  schools,  when  speaking  of  the  wisdom 
of  the  scheme,  makes  the  remark :  "  The  Rev.  Mr.  Muhlen- 
berg of  the  Lutheran  Church,  who  was  a  co-worker  with 
Smith,  sincerely  respected  the  Church  of  England,  and  after- 
ward was  even  a  trustee  of  the  venerable  corporation  estab- 
lished A.  D.  1769  for  the  relief  of  widows  and  children  of  its 
clergymen.  Moreover,  a  portion  of  that  Church  has  always 
been  disposed  to  recognize  the  validity  of  Lutheran  orders,  as 
the  Church  generally  does,  I  believe,  the  validity  of  the  Swe- 
dish and  Moravian.  Thus,  even  if  the  whole  body  of  poor 
Germans  passed  into  the  Lutheran  Church,  a  great  gain  was 
made  to  the  Church  of  England  on  their  previous  forms  of 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHIOR  MUHLENBER  G.  337 

faith — or,  rather,  on  their  previous  want  of  all  faith."  Do 
these  words  reflect  the  sentiments  of  Smith,  Peters,  and  other 
Episcopalians  who  were  the  prime  originators  of  the  whole 
school  plan  ?  Considering  the  disturbed  condition  of  Penn- 
sylvania society  in  1755  and  the  following  years,  the  impos- 
sibility of  exercising,  through  those  schools,  a  lasting  influ- 
ence upon  the  whole  German  population,  dispersed  over  a 
vast  territory,  the  large  expense  necessary  from  year  to  year 
for  the  maintenance  of  the  schools  and  the  teachers,  to  be 
gathered  merely  from  charitable  people,  and  all  the  antago- 
nistic impeding  elements,  we  cannot  wonder  that  after  some 
years  the  whole  work  of  the  chanty  schools  had  to  be  aban- 
doned. We  hear  the  last  of  them  in  1763. 

Smith's  outspoken  opposition  to  the  Quaker  government  in 
Pennsylvania  the  Quakers  resented  by  having  him  brought 
before  their  official  body,  tried,  found  guilty,  and  imprisoned, 
Jan.  25,  1758.  Visiting  England  in  1759,  he  was  received 
with  many  honors,  was  made  by  the  University  of  Oxford 
and  by  that  of  Aberdeen  a  doctor  of  divinity,  brought  an 
appeal  before  the  privy  council,  was  declared  not  guilty,  and 
the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  was  reprimanded  for  assuming 
powers  which  did  not  belong  to  it. 
22 


338  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER    XXI. 
1760-1761. 

Distinguished  visitors  at  Providence. — Rev.  Rich.  Peters,  D.  D. — Rev.  Chas.  M. 
Wrangel,  D.  D. — His  friendship  with  Mtthlenberg. — His  activity  as  pastor 
and  as  provost  of  the  Swedish  churches. — His  voice  in  behalf  of  the  history 
of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America. — Miihlenberg  accepts  the  call  to  the 
German  Lutheran  church  at  Philadelphia. — History  and  condition  of  this 
congregation. — Gerhard  Henkel. — J.  Eneberg. — J.  Chr.  Schultze. — J.  C.  Stoe- 
ver. — J.  Dylander. — P.  Brunnholtz. — J.  F.  Handschuh  elected  pastor. 

T)ROVIDENCE,  from  1745  the  home  of  Muhlenberg  and 
-[  the  centre  of  his  parochial  district,  was  not  destined  to 
be  his  abode  during  the  whole  extent  of  his  earthly  career. 
His  attachment  to  the  locality  never  ceased.  There  he  lived 
in  a  house  and  on  a  piece  of  ground  which  he  could  call  his 
own ;  there  after  his  marriage  he  had  begun  family  life ;  there 
most  of  his  children  were  born,  and  with  a  large  number  of 
people,  even  outside  of  his  congregation,  most  friendly  rela- 
tions had  through  the  course  of  many  years  been  formed. 
We  know  that  on  various  occasions  and  from  divers  locali- 
ties calls  had  repeatedly  come  to  him  to  enter  upon  distant 
fields  of  pastoral  activity.  Some  of  them  offered  to  him  unde- 
niable advantages  in  various  points  of  view.  Temporarily  he 
had  taken  care  of  congregations  in  distant  places.  To  some 
he  had  shown  himself  a  real  help  in  their  distress,  but  he  had 
never  felt  himself  at  liberty  to  part  with  the  field  of  labor  upon 
which,  after  his  arrival  in  Pennsylvania,  he  had  first  and  suc- 
cessfully entered.  Only  the  most  pressing  necessity  could 
convince  Muhlenberg  that  the  time  for  a  change  had  come 
and  that  his  services  were  permanently  needed  in  another 
locality.  * 

Providence,  though  remote  from  the  political,  social,  and 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  339 

commercial  centre  of  the  province  of  Pennsylvania,  could  not 
play  the  role  of  a  bushel  to  hide  the  excellent  qualities  of  an 
eminent  man.  Miihlenberg's  name  was  already  and  most 
favorably  known,  not  only  within  the  Lutheran  Church  and 
the  large  circle  of  her  membership,  but  to  representative  men 
of  other  denominations  and  in  the  different  portions  of  public 
life.  He  kept  up  an  extensive  correspondence  with  these,  and 
to  some  of  the  men  of  high  standing  Providence  was  not  too 
much  out  of  the  way  to  prevent  them  from  paying  a  visit  to 
the  Lutheran  pastor  there,  and  entering  into  conversation  with 
him  on  subjects  of  common  interest. 

Among  such  visitors  we  find  the  Rev.  Richard  Peters,  secre- 
tary of  the  province  of  Pennsylvania,  agent  of  the  Penn  family, 
the  Proprietaries,  and  president  of  the  Philadelphia  academy. 
Aug.  9  and  10,  1760,  this  gentleman  was  the  guest  of  Miihlen- 
berg  at  Providence,  attended  on  Sunday  the  morning  service  in 
the  Augustus  Church,  and  in  the  afternoon  preached  there  in  an 
instructive  and  edifying  manner  to  a  large  assembly.  In  this 
exceptional  case  Miihlenberg  felt  himself  perfectly  justified 
in  inviting  an  Episcopalian  to  a  Lutheran  pulpit.  Richard 
Peters  was  for  a  time  prevented,  under  very  unusual  circum- 
stances, from  exercising  the  functions  of  the  sacred  offiqe, 
though  he  had  received  holy  orders  in  his  native  country, 
England.  The  life  of  this  man  had  taken  a  very  extraordinary 
course.  He  was  the  talented  son  of  Ralph  Peters,  town-clerk 
of  Liverpool,  was  sent  by  his  father  to  the  Westminster  School 
of  London,  went  most  honorably  through  it  before  he  was 
fifteen  years  of  age,  and  was  unfortunately  deluded  by  a 
servant-maid  where  he  lodged  into  a  Fleet  marriage.  His 
parents,  hearing  of  it,  altered  their  mind  as  to  the  remaining 
part  of  his  education,  and,  instead  of  sending  him  to  Oxford, 
removed  him  to  Leyden  in  Holland,  where  he  remained  three 
years.  Upon  his  return  to  England  he  was  put  to  study  under 
the  care  of  Mr.  Rootle  of  the  Inner  Temple,  by  the  command 
of  his  father,  against  his  own  will,  for  he  was  always  inclined 
to  go  into  holy  orders.  "In  the  study  of  law  he  spent  five 
years.  Though  capable  of  practising  the  law  to  great  advan- 


340  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

tage,  yet,  his  religious  turn  of  mind  increasing,  he  prevailed 
upon  his  father  to  let  him  take  holy  orders,  which  were  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  the  bishop  of  Winchester — in  the  year 
1730  to  be  deacon,  and  the  year  following,  at  Chelsea,  to  be 
priest.  Some  little  time  after  Mr.  Rootle  collated  him  to 
Latham  Chapel,  a  donative  in  the  parish  of  Prinskirk,  in  the 
county  of  Lancaster,  diocese  of  Chester,  in  which  neighbor- 
hood he  lived  ever  since  (sic),  and  was  there  taken  notice  of  by 
the  late  earl  of  Derby  and  entrusted  with  the  education  of  two 
of  his  relations,  and  lived  with  His  Lordship  in  his  palace  at 
Knowsly  till  the  1st  of  July  last.  During  all  this  time,  knowing 
in  what  a  base  manner  he  was  tricked  by  the  woman,  he  never 
cohabited  with  her  nor  gave  himself  any  trouble  about  her ; 
and  about  three  years  ago,  upon  his  return  from  Leyden,  where 
he  had  been  to  place  the  two  young  gentlemen  My  Lord's 
relations,  he  was  congratulated  by  all  his  friends  in  a  public 
manner  for  his  deliverance  from  the  woman,  who,  they  had 
told  him,  had  died  while  he  was  in  Holland,  and  her  death 
was  confirmed  afterward  by  several  letters  from  his  friends 
in  London.  Taking  himself,  and  being  taken  by  the  whole 
neighborhood,  to  be  at  full  liberty,  he  made  his  public  ad- 
dresses to  Miss  Stanley,  sister  of  the  two  young  gentlemen 
whom  he  had  placed  in  Leyden,  and  married  her  Christmas 
was  twelve  months.  In  June  last  it  was  discovered  that  the 
woman  was  alive ;  upon  which  he  voluntarily,  with  the  con- 
sent of  his  wife,  came  over  here,  where,  as  I  said,  he  has 
assisted  Mr.  Cummings  in  the  church  of  Philadelphia,  and  to 
my  certain  knowledge  he  has  given  the  greatest  satisfaction  to 
the  people  of  any  clergyman  that  was  ever  here."  Thus  writes 
Mr.  Jerem.  Langhorne  (May  28,  1736)  to  the  bishop  of  Lon- 
don. When  the  circumstances  under  which  Peters  had  come 
to  Pennsylvania  became  known,  his  clerical  character  was 
seriously  attacked,  he  was  denounced  as  living  in  bigamy, 
and  in  1737  he  left  the  service  of  the  Church.  But  his  emi- 
nent talents  and  his  education  as  a  lawyer  soon  opened  other 
doors  for  him.  In  that  same  year  he  accepted  the  secretary- 
ship of  the  Pennsylvania  land-office,  and  in  1742  was  called 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  341 

to  the  honorable  and  lucrative  position  of  secretary  of  the 
province  and  clerk  of  the  council. 

There  were  many  who  heartily  wished  Peters's  return  to  the 
service  of  the  Church.  Among  these  was  Miihlenberg,  who 
in  a  letter  to  him  (Dec.  6,  1756)  refers  to  meeting  him  and 
Acrelius  on  the  evening  of  Oct.  3ist  of  the  same  year,  speaks 
in  high  terms  of  the  talents  and  the  merits  of  Peters  under 
the  distressing  circumstances  of  that  tifne,  and  adds  :  "  Don't 
you  think  it  your  incumbent  duty  now  to  satisfy  and  dedicate 
your  catholic  spirit,  together  with  all  the  faculties  and  un- 
common talents  and  gifts  entrusted  you,  but  which  have  been 
dormant,  to  act  the  more  vigorously  in  the  eleventh  hour 
solely  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  God's  vineyard  in  the  present 
critical  and  dangerous  situation?"  Peters  was  in  1763  elected 
rector  of  Christ  Church  at  Philadelphia,  in  which  capacity 
he  died  in  1776.  He  had  always  taken  a  decisive  position 
against  Methodism,  which  in  those  years  seriously  affected 
the  churches  and  congregations  in  the  provinces.  In  the 
Episcopal  congregation  at  Philadelphia  the  Rev.  Will.  Mac- 
clenachan,  an  adherent  of  Whitefield,  created  by  his  extrava- 
gant enthusiasm  much  disturbance,  which  resulted  in  the 
separation  of  a  portion  of  the  membership,  the  organization 
of  a  new  congregation,  St.  Luke's,  over  which  Macclenachan 
under  many  discomforts  presided  for  more  than  two  years, 
and  then  left  for  Maryland,  where  he  is  said  to  have  seen  the 
errors  of  some  of  his  ways.  Complaints  about  him  were  sent 
by  a  convention  of  the  Pennsylvania  Episcopal  clergy  to  Eng- 
land in  May,  1760,  and  referring  to  "his  exceeding  ill-beha- 
vior to  the  members  of  this  convention  during  their  sitting, 
his  scurrilous  and  abusive  language  to  many  of  them,  his 
railings  and  revilings  of  his  brethren  in  the  pulpit,  his  singular 
manner  of  preaching,"  etc.  Such  a  man  was  not  at  all  to  the 
taste  of  Peters,  who,  while  conservative  in  his  views  and  prac- 
tices as  a  Churchman,  leaned  neither  to  the  enthusiasm  nor 
asceticism  of  Methodism.  That  he  was  neither  an  enthusiast 
nor  an  ascetic  is  perhaps  indicated  by  a  letter  of  Colonel  John 
Stanwix  sent  to  him  from  the  military  camp  near  Carlisle,  Pa., 


342  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

July  25,  1757,  where  we  find  the  following:  "Have  built  a 
hut  in  camp,  where  the  captains  and  I  live  together,  and,  as 
you  have  promised  to  come  this  way  about  August,  shall  be 
glad  you  could  see  how  we  make  it  out.  Cockram  says  the 
rule  at  whist  is  at  present  only  shillings,  but  that  is  to  be 
changed  into  dollars  when  you  and  Mr.  Allen  come  here." 
This  Mr.  Allen  is  probably  the  chief-justice  of  Pennsylvania. 
We  have  here  a  glimpse  of  the  character  of  the  recreations 
in  which  in  those  times  men  of  society  indulged. 

In  the  same  month  and  year  in  which  Rich.  Peters  had  vis- 
ited Miihlenberg  another  stranger,  who  in  subsequent  times 
came  infinitely  nearer  to  his  heart,  the  Rev.  Chas.  Magnus 
Wrangel  de  Saga,  provost  of  the  Swedish  churches  on  the 
Delaware,  pastor  of  the  Wicaco  (Gloria  Dei)  congregation  at 
Philadelphia,  paid  his  respects  to  him  in  his  quiet  rustic  home 
at  Providence.  He  arrived  in  the  afternoon  of  Aug.  24th, 
and  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  his  host  and  family  until  Aug. 
26,  1760.  It  was  the  first  time  the  two  men  had  met,  and 
they  at  once  began  to  form  an  intimate  friendship.  Wran- 
gel had  come  with  the  special  intention  personally  to  invite 
Miihlenberg  to  be  present  at  the  yearly  convention  of  the 
Swedes  at  Wicaco  church,  Sept.  I4th  and  I5th.  Wrangel, 
like  his  predecessors  in  the  provost's  office,  had  been  author- 
ized and  advised  by  the  highest  ecclesiastical  authorities  of 
Sweden  to  entertain  fraternal  relations  with  the  German  Lu- 
theran ministry — an  injunction  which  under  no  other  provost 
of  the  Swedish  churches  was  more  vigorously  carried  out 
than  under  Wrangel,  and,  although  the  official  interests  of 
each  side  were  necessarily  kept  asunder,  was  supported  by  the 
friendship  existing  between  him  and  Miihlenberg.  Wrangel, 
a  scion  of  the  family  made  famous  by  the  exploits  of  General 
Torstenson  Wrangel  during  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  had  re- 
ceived his  education  partly  in  his  native  country,  Sweden, 
partly  at  the  University  of  Gottingen,  was  made  a  private 
chaplain  to  King  Adolphus  Frederick  (1751-71),  and  then  in 
1759  was  sent  as  provost  to  the  Swedish  pastors  and  congre- 
gations on  the  Delaware.  He  is  often  spoken  of  as  "  a  young 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  343 

man"  when  he  arrived  in  this  country,  and,  in  fact,  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  duties  as  pastor  and  provost  exhibited  the 
zeal  and  vigor  of  the  prime  of  life.  It  is  certainly  a  proof  of 
his  talent,  education,  and  energy  that  during  his  career  in 
America  he  preached  the  gospel  in  German  and  in  English 
no  less  than  in  Swedish.  Frequently  he  interchanged  pul- 
pits with  Miihlenberg,  who  then  in  Wrangel's  congregations 
preached  in  English,  which  was  understood  equally  as  well  as 
the  Swedish  by  many  of  his  hearers,  and  even  better  by  a  con- 
siderable number  of  the  younger  generation.  Wrangel  must 
have  been  a  fluent  preacher,  of  much  fervor.  He  was  often 
necessitated,  when  visiting  congregations,  to  preach  in  the 
open  air,  the  churches  being  too  small  for  the  number  of  his 
auditors.  His  religious  fervor  was  to  a  large  extent  of  the 
Halle  type,  but,  while  he  was  meditative  and  demanded  per- 
sonal experience  and  Pietistic  inwardness,  he  was  certainly 
not  quietistic,  but,  like  his  friend  Miihlenberg,  unceasingly 
active  in  preaching  the  gospel,  in  building  up  congregations, 
and  in  searching  after  the  spiritually  destitute  within,  and  even 
beyond,  the  limits  of  his  diocese.  One  of  his  missionary  jour- 
neys in  the  search  after  dispersed  Swedish  settlers  took  him 
across  Jersey  down  to  Egg  Harbor,  at  that  time  considered 
by  Philadelphians  as  an  ultima  thule.  As  a  friend  he  was 
very  sympathetic  and  ever  ready  to  share  the  burdens  lying 
on  others.  To  Miihlenberg  he  often  acted  as  an  assistant. 
He  participated  in  the  affairs  of  the  German  Lutheran  con- 
gregations and  gave  his  advice  and  labor,  and  at  times  was 
present  at  meetings  of  vestries  and  congregations,  where  his 
opinion  also  carried  weight.  It  happened  not  merely  once 
that  in  Philadelphia  he  stayed  with  Miihlenberg  so  late  that 
only  on  the  following  day  he  returned  to  his  own  house,  a 
mile  or  more  distant,  near  the  Wicaco  church.  At  other 
times  the  same  happened  to  Miihlenberg,  who  had  to  be 
satisfied  with'  the  accommodations  which  his  bachelor  friend 
Wrangel  could  offer  him.  Wrangel  sought  to  come  into  con- 
tact with  all  those  in  whom  he  discovered  that  form  of  piety 
which  was  to  him  of  uppermost  concern — viz.  personal,  indi- 


344  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

vidual  experience  of  grace.  He  entertained  friendly  relations 
with  Whitefield,  and,  without  sympathizing  with  the  extrav- 
agancies of  his  adherents  outside  of  and  within  the  Episcopal 
Church,  was  among  the  advocates  of  the  Methodist  move- 
ment, which  in  these  years  was  pushing  itself  to  the  fore- 
ground in  the  religious  world.  Some  light  is  thrown  upon 
the  situation  by  a  letter  of  the  Episcopal  missionary  Hugh 
Neill  to  the  secretary  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of 
the  Gospel,  dated  Oct.  17,  1763,  which  says:  "Mr.  Whitefield, 
arriving  lately  among  us,  and  meeting  with  a  most  cordial 
reception  from  the  Episcopal  clergy  of  Philadelphia,  hath 
thrown  the  clergy  and  laity  into  a  great  consternation.  The 
unanimity  among  the  Church  clergy  both  in  city  and  country 
for  these  three  and  twenty  years  past  prevented  his  hurting 
the  Church  (a  few  individuals  excepted).  The  divisions  that 
he  created  among  the  dissenters  in  this  province  and  all  over 
America  [this  refers  especially  to  the  Presbyterians]  were 
examples  sufficient  to  warn  us  from  splitting  upon  the  same 
rock.  But  such  has  been  the  fatality  of  our  city  brethren 
that  they  have  received  him  with  open  arms,  and  still  con- 
tinue to  follow  him  from  the  church  to  the  meeting-house, 
and  from  there  to  the  church  again,  with  a  greater  degree  of 
veneration,  I  really  believe,  than  if  His  Grace  of  Canterbury 
were  to  condescend  to  pay  them  a  visit.  Mr.  Duche  [his 
name  is  several  times  respectfully  introduced  in  the  Halle 
Reports},  one  of  the  assistant  ministers  of  Christ  Church  at 
Philadelphia,  and  Mr.  Wrangel,  the  Swedish  minister,  have 
appeared  more  openly  than  the  others  in  preaching  up  his 
doctrine  and  espousing  his  cause :  they  have  set  up  private 
meetings  in  town,  where  they  admit  of  none  but  such  as  they 
deem  converted.  The  Swedish  missionary,  Mr.  Wrangel,  has 
set  up  a  week-day  lecture  within  a  small  distance  of  my  church 
of  Oxford  [north  of  Philadelphia  City],  with  a  view  to  make 
some  impression  upon  my  people;  but  he  hath  failed  hith- 
erto." 

For  a  time  Wrangel  delivered  lectures  on  Monday  evenings 
in  a  private  house  at  Philadelphia.     The  house  not  giving 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  345 

room  enough  to  all  the  attendants,  the  German  Lutheran  ves- 
try allowed  him  St.  Michael's  Church  for  that  purpose.  The 
lectures  were  delivered  in  English.  Miihlenberg  speaks  of 
them  as  being  mainly  excellent  exegetical  expositions  of 
Bible  passages.  He  was  himself  a  regular  attendant  when- 
ever time  would  permit.  We  never  meet  with  a  trace  indi- 
cating that  Wrangel  went  into  any  extravagances  .or  that  dur- 
ing his  administrations  any  disorders  took  place,  but  this  did 
not  prevent  three  of  the  Swedish  pastors  under  his  supervis- 
ion from  lodging  complaint  against  him  with  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  in  Sweden.  They  (Rev.  Messrs.  Borell,  Wicksell, 
and  Hegeblad)  refer  especially  to  his  Pietistic  proclivities,  but 
seem  to  have  made  no  impression  in  Sweden.  Of  the  pastoral 
activity  of  his  clerical  friend  Miihlenberg  thus  speaks  in  his 
diary  (April  1 8,  1762):  "  Dr.  de  Wrangel,  at  the  present  time 
Swedish  provost,  preaches  on  Sunday,  in  the  forenoon,  in 
Swedish,  in  his  own  church  [Wicaco] ;  in  the  afternoon  he 
goes  on  horseback  a  distance  of  six  miles  to  a  congregation 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Schuylkill,  and  delivers  a  second  ser- 
mon ;  in  the  evening  he  again  preaches  in  his  own  church, 
and  this  third  time  in  English.  Every  fourth  week  he  under- 
takes a  laborious  tour  through  the  province  of  Jersey  to  his 
destitute  congregations.  Through  the  week-days  he  visits 
other  scattered  outposts  of  his  Church,  goes  from  place  to 
place,  holds  catechizations  in  the  houses,  and,  in  spite  of  his 
indescribable  labors  and  exertions  among  his  dispersed  sheep, 
he  is  willing  from  time  to  time  to  visit  the  destitute  flocks  of 
poor  German  Lutherans,  and  to  bring  joy  by  administering 
to  them  the  means  of  grace,  although  he  could  give  convincing 
proofs  that  he  has  laid  upon  him  more  than  enough  work 
among  his  own  nation.  Some  might  think  that  personal  in- 
terests have  an  influence  in  this  matter,  but  there  is  not  the 
least  room  left  for  such  thoughts,  since  here  the  poorest  flocks 
of  Lutherans  are  referred  to,  and  Provost  Wrangel  cannot  be 
moved  to  take  a  single  penny  from  the  Germans." 

It  is  a  proof  of  the  interest  Wrangel  to^k  in  the  whole 
Lutheran  Church  and  its  history  and  of  his  well-cultivated 


346  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

mind  that  at  the  meeting  of  the  German  Lutheran  Ministe- 
rium  at  Philadelphia,  Oct.  20,  1763,  he  solemnly  addressed 
the  brethren  and  requested  each  of  them  to  furnish  for  a  his- 
tory of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country,  according  to  his 
ability,  some  documents  concerning  the  first  beginning  and 
the  progress  of  their  respective  congregations.  They  prom- 
ised to  do  \\.  Whether  the  promise  was  kept  we  know  not, 
but  we  may  well  ask,  What  would  we  now  know  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this  country  if  the  Halle 
missionaries,  and  especially  Miihlenberg,  had  not,  in  agree- 
ment with  the  rules  laid  down  in  Halle,  kept  their  diaries, 
sent  them  to  the  Fathers,  and  continually  kept  up  corre- 
spondence with  them  ? 

When,  in  1768,  Wrangel  visited  England  on  his  recall  to 
Sweden,  Richard  Peters,  then  rector  of  Christ  Church  at 
Philadelphia,  introduced  him  to  the  bishop  of  London  by 
the  following  letter,  the  interpretation  of  which  we  leave  to 
our  readers : 

"PHILADELPHIA,  30  Aug.,  1768. 

"  MY  MUCH-HONORED  LORD  :  It  is  not  unknown  to  Your 
Lordship  that  the  Church  of  England  in  this  province  has 
always  been  in  connection  with  the  Swedish  churches,  and 
that  the  missionaries  sent  from  Sweden,  who  have,  except  a 
few  instances,  been  persons  of  eminent  learning  and  piety, 
have  at  all  times  given  us  a  very  ready  assistance  and  done 
us  many  substantial  services. 

"  The  Rev.  Dr.  Wrangel,  whom  I  have  made  bearer  of  this 
letter  on  purpose  to  introduce  him  to  Your  Lordship,  is  of 
the  first  rank  amongst  those  missionaries,  and  is  now  on  his 
return  to  Sweden  after  an  absence  of  nine  years.  Before  he 
came  here  he  was  in  high  esteem  with  the  king  of  Sweden, 
and  is  one  of  His  Majesty's  domestic  chaplains. 

"  His  Majesty,  indeed,  appointed  him  commissary  of  the 
Swedish  churches  here  and  rector  of  the  old  Swedish  church 
at  Wicaco,  in  the  neighborhood  of  this  city,  as  a  parochial 
pastor.  I  can  truly  say  that  he  was  indefatigable.  He  has 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  347 

given  very  instructive  lectures  on  week-days  that  have  spread 
among  his  people  a  good  knowledge  of  religious  principles, 
and  as  commissary  it  has  been  his  constant  care  to  visit  all 
the  churches — though  they  are  at  great  distances  from  one 
another — carefully,  and  wherever  he  could  has  given  encour- 
agement to  settle  regular  and  pious  ministers,  and  has  actually 
built  churches  and  brought  into  church  communion  numbers 
of  people  who  were  without  any  public  worship. 

"  He  kncws  all  the  affairs  of  this  province  and  the  state 
of  religion  and  the  situation  of  our  own  and  the  German 
churches,  and  I  most  humbly  and  earnestly  recommend  it 
to  Your  Lordship  to  enter  into  a  free  and  full  conversation 
with  him.  The  Presbyterians,  under  a  pretence  of  answering 
Dr.  Chandler  [who  had  in  a  pamphlet  advocated  the  appoint- 
ment of  bishops  for  America],  have  gone  into  many  abusive 
publications,  and  have  raised  against  them  all  other  churches 
in  common  from  the  bitterness  and  vengeance  that  appear  in 
their  writings.  As  they  are  numerous,  all  other  persuasions 
begin  to  tread  and  unite  against  them  as  people  who  have 
more  tyranny  in  their  system  and  temper  than  any  other 
Church  whatever.  Dr.  Wrangel  wants  to  take  a  just  advan- 
tage of  this  general  antipathy  to  the  Presbyterians,  and  to 
unite  the  great  body  of  Lutherans  and  Swedes  with  the 
Church  of  England,  who,  you  know,  are  but  few  and  in 
mean  circumstances  in  this  province ;  but  were  they  united 
with  the  German  Lutherans  we  should  both  become  respect- 
able. This  Dr.  Smith  and  I  think  may  be  done  by  the 
means  of  our  academy.  We  might  have  a  professorship  of 
divinity  opened  in  it  wherein  German  and  English  youth 
might  be  educated ;  and  by  having  both  languages  as  a  part 
of  their  education  they  might  preach  both  in  German  and 
English  in  such  places  where  there  is  a  mixture  of  both 
nations.  This  would  conciliate  us  all,  and  make  us  live  and 
love  as  one  nation.  It  is  an  happy  thought.  I  wish  Your 
Lordship  would  talk  with  Dr.  Wrangel  and  encourage  it  all 
you  can.  I  have  wrote  to  the  two  archbishops  on  this  head, 
and  beg  they  may  consider  this  well  together  with  Your 


348  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

Lordship.     I  am  sure  there  is  now  a  good  opportunity  of 
bringing  this  desirable  thing  to  a  good  issue. 

"  I  am  Your  Lordship's  most  dutiful  son  and  servant, 

"  RICHARD  PETERS." 

As  a  pastor  Wrangel  was  very  conscientious.  To  regulate 
his  visits  to  the  families  under  his  care  he  made  lists  of  the 
parents,  children,  and  servants,  and  noted  both  their  profectus 
and  defectus.  On  Sunday,  an  hour  before  the  beginning  of 
the  public  services,  he  gave  an  exegetical  explanation  of  a  pas- 
sage of  the  New  Testament,  adding  a  practical  application, 
delivered  a  sermon  of  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour's 
length,  and  questioned  his  hearers  about  its  contents.  In 
this  he  followed  the  custom  of  his  native  country  (Acrelius, 
Hist.,^.  218).  It  proves  his  intense  interest  in  the  progress 
and  the  state  of  the  entire  Lutheran  Church  that  he  was  often 
present  at  the  meetings  of  the  German  Lutheran  Synod,  at 
the  dedication  of  churches,  opening  of  school-houses,  and  sim- 
ilar festival  occasions.  He  and  J.  Nic.  Kurtz  made  in  the 
autumn  of  1761  a  tour  of  visitation  to  New  York  and  the 
New  Jersey  congregations  and  attended  a  college  commence- 
ment at  Princeton,  to  which  Wrangel  was  specially  invited. 
On  the  other  hand,  Miihlenberg  took  pleasure  in  accompany- 
ing his  friend  Wrangel  on  pastoral  tours.  Thus  we  find  the 
two  paying  a  visit  to  the  island  of  Tinicum  in  the  Delaware, 
some  miles  south  of  Philadelphia.  There,  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years  before,  the  Swedes  had  made  a  settlement,  built 
a  fort,  and  erected  the  first  Lutheran  church  on  the  Western 
continent.  There  had  also  been  a  cemetery  on  the  island. 
They  found  some  decayed  bones  and  also  scanty  remnants  of 
the  church.  We  meet  here  and  there  in  Miihlenberg's  diaries 
with  remarks  which  amply  indicate  how  sweet  to  him  was  the 
intercourse  with  such  a  friend  as  Wrangel.  This  intercourse, 
as  may  be  expected,  was  strengthened  when  Miihlenberg,  in 
consequence  of  a  pressing  call  given  by  the  German  Lutheran 
congregation,  Oct.  29,  1761,  moved  with  his  family  to  Phil- 
adelphia. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  349 

Surely  nothing  but  the  most  urgent  necessity  and  a  keen 
sense  of  imperative  duty  could  induce  Muhlenberg  to  leave 
his  home  at  Providence  and  the  field  of  action  on  which  he 
had  labored  as  pastor  during  so  many  years.  He  met  also 
with  very  strong  opposition  on  the  part  of  his  people,  who 
had  allowed  him  from  time  to  time  to  sojourn  at  New  York 
and  in  the  Raritan  congregations,  considering  that  his  tem- 
porary absence  was  justified  by  the  necessities  of  these  con- 
gregations and  of  the  brethren  in  the  faith.  But  a  regular 
call  to  Philadelphia  presented  a  different  aspect.  They  were 
afraid  of  entirely  losing  him  and  his  services,  and,  though  he 
comforted  them  with  the  promise  that  his  absence  should 
only  last  "  a  time,"  they  made  many  efforts  altogether  to  pre- 
vent that  change.  When,  on  Sept.  6,  1761,  he  preached  at 
Providence,  the  church  was  crowded  in  consequence  of  the 
rumors  of  his  intention  to  leave.  That  day  was  his  birthday ; 
he  was  now  fifty  years  of  age.  He  felt  keenly  that  he  was 
taking  a  most  critical  step.  In  his  country  churches  he  had  a 
strong  home-feeling.  He  knew  the  people,  and  they  knew, 
esteemed,  and  loved  him ;  he  had  established  among  them  a 
certain  order,  and  things  moved  on  in  a  quiet  way.  He  knew 
that  in  Philadelphia  new  and  heavy  burdens  would  be  laid 
upon  him.  On  the  very  day  of  his  arrival  at  the  city  he  told 
his  wife  that  they  had  to  prepare  themselves  to  endure  afflic- 
tions and  sufferings.  And,  indeed,  all  his  friends  at  Provi- 
dence, New  Hanover,  and  the  vicinity  well  enough  knew  that 
by  entering  upon  the  service  of  the  Philadelphia  congregation 
he  could  not  expect  to  lead  an  easier  life.  Neither  could  they 
deny  the  force  of  his  reasoning  with  them.  He  had  never 
formally  resigned  the  call  once  given  him  by  the  Philadelphia 
Lutherans  in  connection  with  those  at  Providence  and  New 
Hanover.  The  condition  of  the  Philadelphia  congregation 
had  of  late  become  so  deplorably  critical  that  an  extraordi- 
nary measure  was  imperatively  demanded  there  to  prevent,  if 
ever  possible,  rupture  and  ruin.  As  may  be  expected,  the 
representatives  of  the  Providence  and  New  Hanover  congre- 
gations replied  to  these  reasons  that,  while  Philadelphia  might 


350  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

possibly  be  saved,  their  own  flocks  might  be  scattered.  By 
way  of  a  compromise  they  proposed  that  Miihlenberg  should 
spend  every  fourth  Sunday  at  Philadelphia,  but  not  move 
there  with  his  family.  Finally,  it  was  agreed  that  he  should 
not  resign  at  Providence  and  New  Hanover,  neither  forsake 
them,  but  keep  them  under  his  supervision,  visit  them  from 
time  to  time,  procure  for  them  during  his  absence  pastors  of 
good  qualities,  and  as  soon  as  possible  return  to  his  home. 
Rev.  Hartwig  was  selected  by  them  as  a  substitute  during  his 
absence,  and  served  Miihlenberg's  parochial  charge  for  six 
months.  The  congregation  on  the  west  shore  of  the  Schuyl- 
kill  was  under  the  care  of  J.  H.  Schaum,  then  residing  at 
New  Hanover,  until,  in  April,  1762,  he  moved  to  Berks  coun- 
ty. His  successor  at  New  Hanover  and  at  Pikestown,  beyond 
the  Schuylkill,  was  J.  van  Buskirk,  until  in  1765  he  moved 
to  Germantown. 

The  origin  of  the  Philadelphia  German  Lutheran  congre- 
gation, like  that  of  thousands  of  congregations  throughout 
Christendom,  is  shrouded  in  mystery.  When,  in  1683,  Ger- 
mantown was  founded  by  Germans  of  peculiar  religious  tenets 
antagonistic  to  the  existing  Church  bodies  of  Germany,  their 
confessions,  ritual,  and  mode  of  administration,  there  were 
perhaps  no  German  Lutherans. in  Philadelphia.  Some  may 
have  arrived  in  the  following  years.  Jacob  Fabricius,  who  was 
from  1677  pastor  among  the  Swedes  settled  where  (1682) 
Philadelphia  was  located  and  elsewhere  on  the  Delaware,  and 
even  after  he  had  become  blind  in  1682,  continued  his  ser- 
vices for  some  years  more,  and  may  have  occasionally  preached 
to  their  increasing  numbers.  For  decades  of  years  succeeding, 
there  was,  however,  no  German  Lutheran  church  organization 
in  Philadelphia.  When  Gerhard  Henkel,  after  his  arrival  in 
Pennsylvania,  about  the  year  1717  or  1718,  as  an  itinerant 
preacher  served  the  German  Lutherans  at  New  Hanover  and 
other  localities,  he  may  occasionally  have  exercised  the  func- 
tions of  the  sacred  office  also  at  Philadelphia,  but  the  histor- 
ical proof  is  wanting.  About  1730  a  Swedish  Lutheran 
minister,  John  Eneberg — whom,  by  permission  of  Bishop 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHIOR  MUHLENBER G.  351 

Dr.  Swedberg,  Rev.  Norberg,  pastor  of  the  Swedish  church 
in  London,  had  ordained  with  a  view  to  missionary  services 
among  the  Swedes  on  the  Delaware — arrived  here,  and  first 
preached  to  the  German  Lutherans,  and  among  them  espe- 
cially to  those  at  Philadelphia.  But  when  Rev.  J.  Lidman, 
pastor  of  the  Wicaco  congregation,  in  November,  1730,  re- 
turned to  Sweden,  Eneberg  presided  for  two  years  over  the 
vacant  Wicaco  church,  and  in  1733  entered  upon  his  pastoral 
duties  at  Christina  (Wilmington),  to  which  a  royal  commission 
given  at  Stockholm  July  4,  1732,  had  called  him. 

In  company  with  a  man  whom  many  years  later  Miihlen- 
berg  met  at  Cohansey,  N.  J.,  and  designates  as  "  J.  M.  M.," 
the  first  and  oldest  settler  in  that  vicinity,  there  arrived  (Sept. 
25,  1732)  Rev.  John  Christian  Schultze,  who,  as  it  appears, 
convinced  the  German  Lutherans  at  Philadelphia,  Providence, 
and  New  Hanover  of  his  legitimacy  as  a  Lutheran  pastor, 
served  them  a  short  time,  and  was  then,  already  in  the  spring 
of  1733,  delegated  with  two  laymen,  Weisiger  and  Schoener, 
to  travel  to  Europe  and  raise  collections  in  behalf  of  these 
three  churches.  From  this  voyage  he  never  returned.  Be- 
fore leaving  he  ordained  at  Providence  the  younger  one  of 
the  two  J.  C.  Stoevers,  who  now  entered  upon  pastoral  duties 
at  Philadelphia  and  as  itinerant  preacher  in  other  and  in  some 
very  distant  localities.  This  Stoever — whose  namesake  and 
relative  had  in  the  passenger-list  of  the  ship  in  which  they 
had  arrived  at  Philadelphia,  Sept.  n,  1728,  entered  himself 
as  a  missionary,  and,  as  we  have  learned,  accepted  in  1735  a 
call  to  Virginia — is  found  in  that  list  as  student  of  theology. 
He  moved  (1729  or  1730)  to  the  vicinity  of  Earltown  (New 
Holland),  Lancaster  county,  Pa.,  and  seems  to  have  performed 
ministerial  acts  before  he  was  ordained  by  Schultze.  In  the 
church  record  commenced  by  him  at  Philadelphia  in  1733  he 
entered  such  acts,  performed  as  early  as  1729.  Through  a 
series  of  years  he  served  in  periodical  rotation  a  considerable 
number  of  congregations  and  began  their  church  records. 
The  title  of  the  Philadelphia  record,  a  small-sized  folio,  reads 
thus  :  "  Church-book  and  Protocol  in  behalf  of  the  Evangelical 


352  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Lutheran  congregation  at  Philadelphia,  wherein  are  contained 
and  recorded — i.  Objects  presented  and  bought  in  behalf  of 
the  maintenance  of  public  services ;  2.  Baptized  children, 
with  the  names  of  the  fathers  and  sponsors ;  3.  Persons 
confirmed  and  the  first  time  admitted  to  the  Lord's  Supper ; 
4.  Persons  betrothed  and  married;  5.  Those  who  were  buried 
honorably  and  in  a  Christian  manner.  Begun  by  me,  John  Cas- 
par Stoever,  at  this  time  Evangelical  Lutheran  High  German 
pastor  in  this  place.  Anno  Salvatoris  Nostri,  1733." 

The  entries  made  in  that  book  by  Stoever  cease  with  Jan- 
uary, April,  and  May,  1735.  There  are  no  minutes  of  any 
vestry-meetings,  and  it  appears  that  there  was  no  regular 
organization ;  or  if  there  was  anything  of  the  kind,  it  was  of 
a  very  imperfect  character.  That  the  services  of  Stoever,  who 
for  a  short  time  periodically  appeared  and  then  again  disap- 
peared and  left  the  congregation  without  any  services,  were 
not  satisfactory,  we  learn  from  the  fact  that  Rev.  Dr.  Francke 
as  early  as  March  II,  1735,  alludes  to  a  petition  sent  to  him 
from  Philadelphia  for  godly  ministers.  We  know  that  the 
congregations  of  Philadelphia,  Providence,  and  New  Hanover 
unitedly  addressed  Rev.  Dr.  Ziegenhagen  at  London  and 
Rev.  Dr.  Francke  at  Halle,  and  entreated  them  to  send  a  suit- 
able pastor.  The  letters  are  signed  by  "  Vorsteher  "  of  these 
churches  :  since  elders  are  not  mentioned,  we  cannot  take  that 
word  here  in  the  specific  sense  of  "  deacon,"  but  in  the  gen- 
eric sense  of  "  officers  of  the  congregation."  It  indicates  at 
least  some  sort  of  organization. 

The  correspondence  of  the  "  Fathers  "  had  no  practical  re- 
sult until  the  sending  of  Miihlenberg  in  1742.  We  know 
that  in  that  same  year  Zinzendorf  had  made  efforts  to  control 
the  German  Lutheran  congregation  at  Philadelphia  and  those 
in  other  localities  of  Pennsylvania,  and  that  in  Philadelphia, 
after  the  rupture  separating  the  Lutherans  from  his  influence, 
Val.  Kraft  had  acted  as  pastor  until,  Nov.  25th  of  that  year, 
Miihlenberg  arrived.  During  the  preceding  years  the  Phil- 
adelphia German  Lutherans  had  no  pastor.  They  continued, 
however,  when  Stoever  left  them,  to  meet  in  a  building  which 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  353 

they  and  the  German  Reformed  had  about  1730  unitedly 
rented,  alternately  holding  Sunday  services.  Rev.  John  Dy- 
lander,  from  Nov.  6,  1737,  until  his  death,  Nov.  2,  1741,  pas- 
tor of  Wicaco  church — a  man  highly  esteemed  and  much 
beloved — used  his  ability  to  preach  the  gospel  also  in  the 
German  language  for  the  benefit  of  the  German  Lutherans  at 
Philadelphia ;  he  also  dedicated  the  stone  church  which  the 
German  Lutherans  for  some  years  had  been  erecting  at  Ger- 
mantown.  Acrelius  says  of  him:  "No  one  can  deny  to  Mr. 
Dylander  the  honor  which  he  gained  for  himself  in  his  min- 
isterial office,  in  that  for  more  than  a  year  he  held  morning 
service  at  eight  o'clock  in  German,  High  Mass  in  Swedish, 
and  vespers  in  English  in  the  church  at  Wicaco."  We  find, 
however,  that  before  Dylander  had  arrived  here  a  certain 
John  Albert  Langerfeldt,  of  Halberstadt,  Germany,  who  had 
attended  lectures  on  jurisprudence  and  on  theology  at  Halle, 
but  who  had  not  intended  to  serve  as  a  pastor  and  never  pre- 
tended to  be  ordained,  at  the  request  of  the  people — among 
whom  he  was  of  good  report — for  a  time  preached  every 
other  Sunday  to  the  German  Lutherans  at  Philadelphia. 
Thus  we  read  in  a  letter  of  the  three  united  congregations 
dated  Feb.,  1735,  to  Dr.  Francke. 

At  an  earlier  stage  of  our  narrative,  when  speaking  of  Zin- 
zendorf  we  mentioned  that  he  had  formed  a  sort  of  consti- 
tution for  the  German  Lutherans  at  Philadelphia.  This 
constitution  never  entered  into  the  life  of  the  congregation, 
yet  it  may  have  been  the  cause  of  Muhlenberg's  finding  in 
the  congregation  two  distinct  orders  of  lay  officers,  elders 
and  deacons — a  division  maintained  by  a  very  large  number 
of  Lutheran  congregations  throughout  Pennsylvania  and  be- 
yond it,  while  in  many  to  these  two  orders  is  added  the  third 
one  of  trustees.  This  was  during  a  number  of  years  the  case 
in  the  Philadelphia  congregation. 

In  the  year  1745,  Brunnholtz  entered  upon  pastoral  duties 
in  Philadelphia.  Miihlenberg,  without  resigning  in  Philadel- 
phia, took  charge  of  the  country  congregations.  Entries  of 
the  Philadelphia  vestry-meetings  are  not  found  until  Aug.  17, 

23 


354  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

1746;  from  that  time  they  are  kept  with  more  or  less  regu- 
larity. When  Brunnholtz  was  called  as  the  second  pastor 
there  was  no  congregational  constitution  adopted,  though  a 
certain  order  was  established  and  maintained  by  custom.  In 
an  address  delivered  on  the  first  Sunday  after  Epiphany, 
1757,  from  the  pulpit,  Brunnholtz,  referring  to  the  years 
1743—48,  during  which  St.  Michael's  was  built,  says:  "On 
the  twelfth  Sunday  after  Trinity  I  formally,  from  the  pulpit, 
appointed  about  twelve  men  as  elders.  Assisted  by  these, 
I  selected  four  deacons,  who  should  serve  alternately  two 
years,  as  had  been  our  custom  up  to  this  time.  The  elders, 
together  with  the  deacons,  were,  when  assembled,  called 
a  church  council,  because  in  their  meetings  they  were  to 
counsel  together  and  to  adopt  resolutions.  We  find  that  in 
1746  these  four  men  were  placed  before  the  congregation,  and, 
no  objection  being  raised  against  them,  they  were  publicly 
reminded  of  their  official  duties,  and,  giving  their  hands,  sol- 
emnly promised  faithfully  to  serve."  It  is  stated  that  these 
four  men  served  "  until  New  Year,  1748,  or  the  end  of  1747." 
When,  in  1757,  Brunnholtz  presented  to  the  congregation  two 
men  selected  by  him  and  the  elders  out  of  four  who  had  been 
nominated,  he.  reminded  them  of  their  duty  to  live  in  a  Chris- 
tian way  and  to  give  a  good  example  to  others ;  to  further  the 
interests  of  the  congregation  in  all  internal  and  external  matters; 
to  live  with  their  two  brethren  in  the  office  in  peace  and  har- 
mony ;  to  keep  strict  account  of  the  moneys  entrusted  to  their 
care,  and  to  lock  them  up  in  the  box  the  key  of  which  was  in 
the  hands  of  one  of  the  elders ;  never  to  open  the  box  but  in 
the  presence  of  a  fellow-deacon ;  never  to  loan  even  a  penny 
of  the  money  of  the  congregation  to  any  one,  "  not  for  eight 
days ;"  to  demand  for  all  bills  paid  receipts  in  writing,  and  to 
preserve  them,  and  carefully  to  have  a  strict  eye  upon  all  dis- 
order that  might  happen  during  public  services  ;  "  better  than 
was  the  case  formerly  "  to  provide  for  the  minister's  salary ; 
kindly,  modestly,  and  patiently  to  deal  with  the  members  of 
the  congregation ;  and  to  be  satisfied  with  their  reward — viz. 
"  that  orderly  members  will  honor  and  love  you,  disorderly 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHIOR  MUHLENBER  G.  355 

and  censorious  persons  will  calumniate  and  scold  you."  To 
all  this  the  two  selected,  J.  Kuhn  and  Chr.  R.  Uhl,  assented, 
and  were  installed  in  their  offices  for  the  two  years  1757 
and  1758.  The  elders,  as  it  appears,  were  elected  for  life — a 
circumstance  which  occasioned  later  considerable  difficulty. 
June  5,  1757,  Brunnholtz  died.  It  may  serve  as  a  proof  that 
a  regular  order  of  business  was  not  strictly  maintained  in 
those  times,  to  state  that  often  members  of  the  congregation, 
not  in  office  were  called  to  the  vestry-meetings  to  give  their 
advice.  This  was  probably  done  in  remembrance  of  the  word 
that  there  is  wisdom  in  the  multitude  of  counsellors.  We  add 
that  during  the  erection  of  St.  Michael's  Church  in  1743  four 
members  of  the  congregation  gave  security  for  the  payment 
of  the  debts  incurred.  When  the  building  was  erected  and 
dedicated  the  deed  of  the  lot  and  the  church  was  handed 
(Nov.  8,  1748)  to  eight  trustees,  among  whom  were  Miihlen- 
berg  and  Brunnholtz.  „ 

We  remember  that  J.  F.  Handschuh,  when  driven  out  of 
the  Lutheran  congregation  at  Germantown  in  1753,  served 
there  a  small  flock  of  such  members  as  were  averse  to  the 
spirit  then  ruling  in  that  congregation.  He  could  not,  how- 
ever, find  the  necessary  means  of  subsistence,  and  was  glad 
when  Miihlenberg's  influence  with  the  trustees  of  the  charity 
schools  and  academy  procured  him  at  Philadelphia  (to  which 
place  he  moved  Aug.  15,  1755)  the  situation  of  teacher  of 
French  in  the  academy,  proof-reader  in  the  printing-office  of 
the  Charity-school  Society,  and  translator  of  English  articles 
into  German  for  the  same.  Pastor  Heintzelmann  beginning  to 
suffer  in  health,  and  Brunnholtz  being  often  in  a  weak  condi- 
tion, Handschuh  assisted  in  their  pastoral  work.  When  Heint- 
zelmann died  (Feb.  9,  1756),  and  Brunnholtz  (June  5,  1757), 
the  pastoral  work  of -the  congregation  devolved  wholly  upon 
him.  Nov.  21,  1757,  the  assembled  vestry — sixteen  members 
of  the  congregation — elected  him  pastor.  In  March,  1758, 
he  resigned  his  other  engagements. 


356  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 


CHAPTER    XXII. 

1760-1761  (continued}. 

Difficulties  within  the  Philadelphia  congregation. — Need  of  reorganization. — Dis- 
cordant parties. — Mtihlenberg's  presence  in  the  congregation  demanded. — 
He  visits  Philadelphia  as  a  mediator. — Salaries  of  pastors  and  teachers. — 
Electing  church-officers. — Need  of  a  congregational  constitution. — Adoption 
of  the  new  constitution. — Wrangel's  friendly  co-operation. — Mtihlenberg's 
eminent  merits  in  the  pacification  and  organization  of  the  congregation. — 
Presiding  officer  of  synod. 

THERE  is  no  doubt  that  Handschuh  undertook  his  work 
as  pastor  of  the  Philadelphia  congregation  with  an  ener- 
getic will.  In  various  directions  there  was  ample  room  for 
improvement.  In  connection  with  the  numerical  increase  of 
the  membership  doubtful  elements  also  entered  and  discipline 
was  lacking.  To  make  his  own  position  clear,  in  the  vestry- 
meeting  Dec.  12,  1757,  he  declared  orally  and  in  writing  that 
without  the  knowledge  of  the  vestry  he  would  under  no  cir- 
cumstances permit  any  one,  whosoever  he  might  be,  except 
Miihlenberg,  J.  Nic.  Kurtz,  or  Schaum,  to  preach  in  his  pul- 
pit. Nov.  21,  1757,  two  overseers  of  the  poor  of  the  congre- 
gation were  appointed.  It  was  also  resolved  (Dec.  I2th)  that 
a  regular  meeting  of  the  vestry  should  be  held  every  second 
month ;  also  that  on  Epiphany  the  yearly  account  should  be 
read  to  the  congregation  and  the  two  deacons  elected  for  the 
following  term ;  also  that  the  Lord's  Supper  should  be  sol- 
emnized every  second  month  and  on  all  important  church 
festivals.  On  Dec.  18,  1758,  it  was  resolved  by  the  vestry 
that  on  New  Year's  Day  the  whole  congregation  should  be 
specially  admonished  to  begin  a  new  and  a  higher  spiritual 
life,  and  that  it  should  be  announced  that  hereafter  no  one 
given  to  gambling  or  drunkenness  or  impurity  or  strife  or 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  357 

cursing  or  dancing  or  dishonesty  should  be  admitted  to  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  that  every  one  found  guilty  of  such  sins 
would  have  to  appear  before  the  vestry  to  be  disciplined.  We 
find  that  cases  of  such  a  character  from  time  to  time  claimed 
official  attention. 

But,  while  Handschuh  exhibited  much  devotion  to  his  pas- 
toral office  and  good  and  energetic  will,  he  proved,  on  the 
whole,  no  success,  and  entangled  himself  more  and  more  in 
never-ending  difficulties. 

There  is  sufficient  evidence  that  immediately  after  the  death 
of  Brunnholtz  a  number  of  members  of  the  congregation 
desired  Muhlenberg's  return  to  the  city  to  take  his  place  as 
first  in  rank,  with  Handschuh  as  the  second  pastor.  Hand- 
schuh, however,  had  ingratiated  himself  with  the  elders,  and 
Muhlenberg,  who  openly  declared  his  disinclination  to  renew 
his  pastoral  activity  at  Philadelphia,  was  called  upon  during 
the  meeting  of  the  elders  to  write  the  call  to  Handschuh, 
whom  they  had  elected.  When  Muhlenberg  stated  in  this 
call  that  the  congregation  promised  to  provide  the  necessary 
support  for  the  pastor,  an  elder — at  that  time  the  leading  man 
— excitedly  censured  him  for  doing  this,  and  was  not  quieted 
by  the  remark  that  this  was  conformable  to  Christ's  doctrine 
and  customary  in  all  properly-constituted  churches,  and  that 
the  pastor  should  not  be  necessitated  to  go  begging  for  his 
support  among  the  members  of  the  congregation.  To  the 
question  whether  they  considered  Muhlenberg  as  still  retain- 
ing an  official  relation  to  the  congregation,  as  having  the 
position  of  first  or  second  pastor  and  the  right  of  voting  in 
the  vestry,  the  same  elder  answered  that  they  needed  neither 
a  first  nor  a  second,  but  only  one,  pastor;  whereupon  Muhl- 
enberg cut  out  of  the  minute-book  his  call  and  threw  the 
sheet  into  the  fire — also,  as  it  seems,  the  call  intended  for 
Handschuh — and  told  the  vestry  that  they  might  now  write  a 
call  for  the  pastor  elect  as  it  suited  them.  When  Handschuh, 
now  called  in,  accepted  of  his  election,  Muhlenberg  asked  him 
whether  in  his  formal  call  he  wanted  no  reference  to  a  stipu- 
lated salary,  and  received  the  answer,  "  What  do  you  think  ? 


358  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

To  have  a  thought  of  support  is  carnal,  worldly,  irreligious. 
I  am  no  hireling  serving,  for  my  stomach's  sake,  for  filthy 
lucre.  God  preserve  me  against  anything  of  the  kind !"  In 
this  strain  he  went  on.  At  the  entreaty  of  the  elders  Miihl- 
enberg  now  in  a  few  words  wrote  another  call  according  to 
their  and  Handschuh's  idea,  and  to  his  own  signature  simply 
and  meekly  added  "  oldest  trustee."  On  the  following  day  he 
left  the  city,  and  paid  no  visit  there  for  three  years.  Hand- 
schuh  broke  off  correspondence  with  him,  and  to  a  letter  of 
Miihlenberg  addressed  to  him  in  kind  words,  in  consequence 
of  letters  from  Halle  counselling  peace  and  harmony,  answered 
in  a  pathetic,  affected  manner.  We  omit  other  particulars,  all 
clearly  indicating  how  little  Handschuh  was  mindful  of  the 
numerous  acts  of  kindness  and  of  the  material  assistance  he 
had  received  from  Miihlenberg  when  he  was  obliged  to  leave 
Lancaster,  when  he  was  embarrassed  by  the  situation  at  Ger- 
mantown,  and  when  a  living  was  procured  for  him  in  Phila- 
delphia. 

We  have  every  reason  to  suppose  that  Muhlenberg  was 
from  the  beginning  convinced  that  the  course  pursued  by 
Handschuh  as  pastor  of  the  Philadelphia  congregation  could 
not  lead  to  happy  results.  He  well  enough  knew  that  an 
extravagant  subjectiveness  and  a  morbid  enthusiasm  will  soon 
exhaust  themselves.  What  a  pastor  needs  in  addition  to  all 
other  requirements  is  a  good  portion  of  strong  common  sense: 
this  was  wanting  in  Handschuh.  He  tried  to  make  himself 
agreeable  to  the  elders  of  his  vestry,  who  were  the  ruling 
power,  but  in  doing  this  he  had  to  defend  all  their  actions, 
made  himself  responsible  for  their  frequent  arbitrary  rulings, 
and  alienated  the  more  intelligent  members  of  the  congrega- 
tion from  himself.  His  efforts  to  stigmatize  as  rebels  those  who 
demanded  some  changes  in  the  management  of  the  affairs  of 
the  congregation  were  without  effect.  That  some  changes  were 
very  desirable  cannot  be  denied.  The  elders  held  the  offices 
for  life  or  until  they  voluntarily  resigned.  Vacancies  were 
filled  by  their  fellow-elders,  who  would,  of  course,  elect  such 
as  agreed  with  them.  Suspicions  arose  that  in  taking  care 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  359 

of  the  congregation  they  took  care  of  themselves  and  their 
friends.  When,  in  1759,  in  consequence  of  the  increase 
of  the  membership  through  a  fresh  and  powerful  tide  of  im- 
migration, the  galleries  of  St.  Michael's  Church  had  to  be 
enlarged,  an  addition  to  the  existing  cemetery  to  be  bought, 
and  in  the  following  year,  in  Fourth  street  north  of  Cherry 
street,  a  parsonage  and  ground  for  the  erection  of  a  new 
school-house  were  needed,  and  the  interest-paying  debt  of 
the  congregation  amounted  to  about  two  thousand  four  hun- 
dred pounds, — the  congregation  in  all  these  weighty  matters 
had  no  voice,  and  could  only  once  in  a  year,  on  Epiphany 
Day,  listen  to  the  reading  of  the  yearly  account,  while  ques- 
tions raised  by  members  often  received  unsatisfactory  answers. 
No  doubt,  Handschuh  endeavored  faithfully  to  perform  his 
duties,  but,  while  his  zeal  gained  him  the  good  opinion  of 
many,  he  was  more  and  more  considered,  by  a  portion  of  the 
membership  increasing  in  influence,  the  champion  of  the  vestry 
and  as  a  strict  party-man,  whereby  his  position  and  his  use- 
fulness were  endangered.  Unfortunately,  he  referred  to  the 
existing  difficulties  in  a  perfectly  one-sided  manner  in  the 
pulpit,  treated  those  who  differed  from  him  with  coldness 
and  distrust,  and  seems  to  have  been  convinced  that  any 
change  in  the  constitution  and  the  administration  of  the  con- 
gregation would  unavoidably  lead  to  ruin.  His  behavior 
toward  Wrangel,  who  could  not  in  all  things  agree  with  him, 
was  offensive,  and  Miihlenberg,  who  approached  him  in  the 
most  careful  manner,  he  considered  an  enemy. 

We  can  easily  understand  that  Miihlenberg — whose  interest 
in  the  congregation  had  never  ceased  since  he  had  served  in 
it,  had,  as  presses  of  synod,  a  special  duty  toward  it  and  tho- 
roughly knew  its  history  and  its  constituent  elements — con- 
tinued during  his  protracted  absence  from  Philadelphia  to  be 
well  informed  about  all  the  proceedings  and  conflicts  taking 
place  there.  What  he  once  states  of  all  the  German  Lutheran 
congregations  in  their  beginning  in  this  country  is  eminently 
true.  He  says  :  "  Before  the  second  generation  grew  up  the 
congregations  consisted  of  all  imaginable  varieties  of  Germans, 


360  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

from  Hesse-Darmstadt,  Hamburg,  Dantzig,  Mecklenburg, 
Holstein,  Denmark,  Hanover,  Wiirtemberg,  Zweibriicken, 
Durlach,  Baireuth,  Saxony,  Brandenburg,  Frankfort,  Palati- 
nate, Alsace,  Frankia,  Westphalia,  etc.  etc.  And  since  every 
province,  town,  and  village  in  the  German  empire  has  some- 
thing of  its  own  and  special  variations  and  turns  in  the  church- 
melodies,  and  as  some  sing  slowly,  while  others  rapidly,  each 
one  thought  that  his  manner  and  custom  was  the  most  proper, 
and  made  most  strenuous  efforts  to  carry  through  his  melody 
and  to  teach  the  others  to  keep  time."  Now,  this  description 
suits  also  for  conditions  not  directly  connected  with  public 
worship.  Miihlenberg  was  fully  convinced  that  the  Philadel- 
phia congregation  needed  a  new  constitution  and  a  different 
administration,  but  he  was  very  careful  not  to  take  a  party 
position ;  and  even  at  the  time  when  he  was  in  his  conscience 
necessitated  no  longer  to  be  silent,  but  to  open  his  mind,  he 
as  much  as  possible  avoided  all  friction  with  the  represent- 
atives of  views  differing  from  his  own.  Among  those  who 
were  laboring  for  a  change  were  large  numbers  of  Wurtem- 
bergers  :  when  it  was  found  out  that  Miihlenberg  defended 
some  of  the  positions  taken  by  them,  he  was  called  the 
"Schwaben  Pfarrer." 

When,  in  consequence  of  stubbornness  on  the  one  hand 
and  excitement  on  the  other,  things  had  taken  such  an  aspect 
that  the  very  existence  of  the  congregation  seemed  to  be 
endangered,  Miihlenberg  finally  yielded  to  letters  and  peti- 
tions pouring  in  upon  him  and  offered  his  services  as  a  me- 
diator. He  was  fully  aware  that  the  number  of  those  who 
after  Brunnholtz's  death  wanted  him  to  be  recalled  to  Phil- 
adelphia had  since  that  time  greatly  increased.  He  had  to 
avoid  every  appearance  of  a  desire  to  remove  Handschuh,  but, 
while  personally  he  much  preferred  the  country,  he  felt  that 
his  presence  in  Philadelphia  might  prevent  much  evil,  and 
that  there  was  work  enough  in  that  steadily-growing  congre- 
gation for  two  pastors.  This  was  sufficiently  evidenced  by 
the  fact  that  during  the  year  1762  no  less  than  three  hundred 
and  four  individuals  were  baptized  and  one  hundred  and  forty- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  361 

eight  buried.     When  the  new  constitution  was  adopted,  in  the 
same  year,  no  less  than  seven  hundred  members  signed  it. 

With  the  consent  of  the  vestry,  Miihlenberg  paid  his  first 
visit  to  Philadelphia,  after  long-continued  absence,  March  12- 
16,  1716.  On  Sunday,  March  I5th,  he  preached  in  the  morn- 
ing on  the  "  Causes  of  Christ's  tears  over  Jerusalem ;"  in  the 
afternoon,  when  the  auditory  was  still  more  numerous,  on  a 
part  of  Josh.  xxii. :  "  The  strife  and  misunderstanding  between 
the  tribes  of  Israel ;  how  they  originated,  how  they  were  ad- 
justed; how  this  was  to  be  applied  to  this  congregation." 
After  the  latter  sermon  Handschuh  was  in  such  a  state  of 
feeling  that  he  embraced  and  kissed  Provost  Wrangel,  who  also 
was  present.  Unfortunately,  the  thermometer  of  Handschuh's 
feelings  frequently  fluctuated  between  hot  and  cold.  In  a  sub- 
sequent conversation  with  members  of  the  vestry  Miihlenberg 
admonished  them  to  forgive  those  who  were  fault-finding,  to 
meet  them  with  kindness,  and  to  gain  their  good-will  by  follow- 
ing the  example  of  our  Lord.  They  said  that  if  he  would  pay 
them  more  such  visits  peace  would  follow.  The  main  result 
of  that  first  visit  and  that  first  sermon  in  St.  Michael's  for 
some  time  was  that  the  cry,  "  Miihlenberg  must  return  to 
Philadelphia,"  became  stronger.  At  a  second  visit  (Apr.  17* 
1761)  Handschuh  was  found  in  a  bad  humor,  and  Miihlenberg 
felt  inclined  to  return  to  Providence  the  following  day,  but 
was  persuaded  by  two  elders  to  preach  again  on  Sunday,  Apr. 
iQth.  On  this  occasion  he  avoided,  as  before,  every  word 
which  would  allow  a  partisan  interpretation.  At  a  third  visit 
to  Philadelphia,  after  the  meeting  of  synod  at  Lancaster, 
Miihlenberg,  having  preached  twice  Sunday,  May  24th,  per- 
suaded the  elders  to  give  a  hearing  on  the  following  day,  at 
two  o'clock  P.  MM  to  those  who  were  dissatisfied  and  complain- 
ing. When  he  informed  the  complaining  members  of  the  fact 
he  enjoined  them  to  prepare  themselves  by  prayer  and  to 
come  with  a  Christian,  conciliatory  mind.  On  the  following 
morning  Handschuh  exhibited  much  uneasiness.  Miihlenberg, 
passing  the  parsonage  of  the  Episcopal  church,  was  called  in, 
and  found  a  numerous  assembly  of  Anglican  missionaries 


362  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

holding  their  yearly  meeting.  They  took  him  to  the  church, 
showed  their  respect  for  him  in  various  ways,  and  were  glad 
to  have  him  passive  with  themselves.  Miihlenberg  writes : 
"  This  did  no  harm  to  me,  but  occasioned  a  report  that  the 
poor  prases  ministerii  had  subscribed  to  the  Articles  of  the 
Anglican  Church,  though  there  was  not  a  shadow  of  truth  in 
it."  In  the  afternoon  the  Lutheran  vestry  met  in  the  parson- 
age with  about  eight  of  the  complainants,  one  of  which,  apo- 
thecary Schneider  of  Wurtemberg,  read  the  points  of  dissatis- 
faction. Both  parties  decently  refrained  from  showing  temper. 
Handschuh  had  been  advised  by  Miihlenberg  rather  to  hear 
than  to  speak.  After  some  discussion  Miihlenberg  requested 
the  complainants  to  hand  him  their  gravamina  in  writing,  to 
which,  in  behalf  of  the  vestry,  he  would  give  an  answer.  The 
two  main  points  contained  in  the  document  of  .the  complain- 
ants were  that  Miihlenberg  should  be  recalled  to  Philadelphia 
as  pastor,  and  that  a  proper  congregational  constitution  should 
be  formed.  Some  of  the  features  of  this  new  constitution 
were  indicated.  Handschuh  unwisely  referred  to  these  pro- 
ceedings in  his  sermons,  and  in  a  letter  of  June  3d  addressed 
to  Miihlenberg  spoke  of  these  proposed  new  rules  and  regu- 
lations as  most  surely  leading  to  destruction,  and  of  the  exist- 
ing condition  of  things  as  unchangeable.  In  this  he  gave  the 
opinion  of  his  friends  in  the  vestry.  Miihlenberg,  who  knew 
that  the  party  demanding  a  change  was  constantly  increasing, 
was  not  willing  to  present  to  the  congregation  the  judgment 
given  by  Handschuh  and  his  friends.  The  main  point  on 
which  the  progressive  party  insisted  was  that  hereafter  the 
elders  should  not  serve  during  life,  and  that  they  should  no 
longer  have  the  right  to  fill  vacancies  in  their  number.  Miihl- 
enberg, while  admitting  that  in  bygone  years  much  could 
have  been  said  in  defence  of  the  system  then  prevailing,  clearly 
saw  that  in  the  course  of  time  abuses  had  crept  in ;  that,  while 
the  growth  of  the  congregation  had  increased,  the  financial 
responsibility,  the  power,  had  remained  too  largely  in  the 
hands  of  the  elders,  who  did  not  feel  sufficient  accountability 
to  the  congregation ;  and  that  the  pastors,  being  totally  de- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR   MUHLENBERG.  363 

pendent  on  the  good-will  of  the  vestry,  were  in  danger  of 
flattering  the  ruling  few,  and  of  defending  all  their  actions 
even  against  the  claims  of  justice. 

This  was  exactly  the  situation  in  which  Handschuh  found 
himself.  Muhlenberg  could  see  no  wrong  in  the  demands  of 
those  in  favor  of  progress  in  the  congregation.  With  them, 
he  was  convinced  that  the  regularly-contributing  members 
should  have  the  right,  every  two,  three,  or  four  years,  to  elect, 
by  a  majority  of  votes,  a  certain  number  of  elders,  and  also, 
in  consideration  of  their  good  services,  to  re-elect  them ;  that 
pastors  and  parochial  teachers  should  have  sufficient  fixed 
salaries,  so  as  not  to  be  forced  to  flatter  and  to  beg  this  or 
that  elder  to  advance  sums  in  an  irregular  manner  out  of  the 
contribution-box;  and  that  no  important  transaction — such  as 
buying  or  selling  ground  or  houses,  taking  down  or  erecting 
buildings,  incurring  debt,  appointing  trustees,  elders,  pastors, 
or  teachers — should  take  place  without  the  knowledge  and 
consent  of  the  congregation.  It  was  added  that,  as  the  first 
legitimate  pastor,  Muhlenberg  should  be  recalled  to  Philadel- 
phia, and  that  Handschuh  should  maintain  the  position  as 
second  in  rank.  Seeing  that  Handschuh  and  his  elders  and 
friends  treated  these  demands  simply  as  a  monstrosity  which 
they  for  conscience'  sake  would  reject,  Muhlenberg  was  wise 
enough  not  to  communicate  these  symptoms  of  incurable 
stubbornness  to  the  other  party,  and  refrained  from  revisiting 
Philadelphia  during  June.  He  sent,  however,  a  letter,  care- 
fully couched,  to  the  vestrymen,  who,  noticing  considerable 
agitation  among  the  membership  of  the  church,  were  not  will- 
ing to  lay  his  response  before  the  congregation,  but  found  it 
advisable  specially  to  invite  him  to  be  present  at  the  dedication 
of  the  new  parochial  school-house,  which,  erected  in  Cherry 
street  east  of  Fourth,  served  for  this  end  for  more  than  one 
hundred  and  ten  years ;  it  is  now  used  for  commercial  purposes. 
It  had  come  to  this — that  Handschuh  was  requested  by  the 
elders  to  deal  with  Muhlenberg  in  a  brotherly  manner.  When 
Miihlenberg  (July  25th)  arrived  in  Philadelphia,  Handschuh 
received  him  kindly.  Sunday,  the  26th,  Muhlenberg  preached 


364  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

in  the  morning  in  St.  Michael's ;  in  the  afternoon,  in  the  place 
of  Wrangel,  to  the  congregation  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Schuylkill,  in  English ;  and  stayed  over  night  with  Wrangel 
at  Wicaco,  and  with  him  came  next  morning  to  Handschuh's 
house,  from  which  the  vestry  accompanied  the  pastors  to  the 
church,  which  was  filled  with  young  and  old.  Miihlenberg 
preached  on  2  Kings  ii.  19-22.  After  services  the  school- 
house  was  solemnly  dedicated,  the  children  were  examined 
by  the  teacher,  and  a  collection  amounting  to  twelve  pounds 
three  shillings  was  made.  In  the  afternoon  the  vestry  had  a 
long  discussion  on  the  question  whether  Miihlenberg  should 
be  recalled  to  Philadelphia  unitedly  to  labor  with  Handschuh. 
Toward  evening  Miihlenberg,  Handschuh,  and  Wrangel  were 
called  into  fche  vestry-room,  and  the  speaker  informed  Miihl- 
enberg that  they  had  nothing  to  say  against  his  returning  to 
his  former  service  in  Philadelphia.  Wrangel  interposed  the 
question  whether  they  had  nothing  to  say  in  favor  of  it.  To 
this  an  evasive  answer  was  given,  Handschuh  lowering  himslf 
to  such  a  depth  that  he  said  to  Miihlenberg,  with  loud  voice, 
before  all,  "  You  will  not  grow  rich  the  first  year  in  Philadel- 
phia ;"  but  was  answered  by  an  expressive  silence.  On  the 
following  day  Miihlenberg  undertook,  with  Wrangel,  the  tour 
before  alluded  to,  during  which  they  visited  Tinicum  Island. 
On  Friday,  July  2ist,  Miihlenberg  paid  to  publisher  H.  Miil- 
ler  four  pounds  for  some  dozen  copies  of  the  English  edition 
of  Luther's  Small  Catechism,  which  Wrangel  had  undertaken. 
Two  of  the  leading  men  of  the  progressive  portion  of  the 
congregation  insisted  that  on  the  following  Sunday  Miihlen- 
berg should  announce  to  the  congregation  that  in  the  coming 
week  a  meeting  would  be  held  with  a  view  to  settling  the 
existing  difficulties.  On  Saturday,  Aug.  1st,  Miihlenberg,  in 
a  letter  addressed  to  the  vestry,  referred  to  the  fact  that  for 
sundry  reasons  they  had  agreed  to  his  return  in  an  official 
capacity  to  Philadelphia,  and  stated  that  he  was  willing  to 
come  on  condition  that  he  could  here  enjoy  brotherly  love, 
and  that  his  other  congregations  would  agree  to  it ;  also,  that 
to  forestall  objections  the  members  of  the  congregation  would 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  365 

be  asked,  in  the  presence  of  the  vestry,  whether  or  not  they 
consented  to  this  arrangement.  He  also  stated  what  he  in- 
tended to  lay  before  the  meeting  of  the  congregation,  and 
asked  whether,  in  case  the  question  of  the  election  of  elders 
should  be  raised,  he  should  announce  that  such  questions 
should  be  laid  before  the  next  meeting  of  synod,  to  be  held 
here  in  Philadelphia,  and  that  a  carefully-prepared  Christian 
congregational  constitution,  corresponding  with  the  political 
liberties  of  this  country,  should  be  introduced  in  all  our  united 
congregations. 

We  see  on  what  a  broad  basis  Muhlenberg  considered  this 
whole  question  of  a  congregational  constitution,  and  how 
strongly  he  was  convinced  that  all  his  congregations  needed 
proper  organization  and  should  also  herein  stand  on  one 
common  ground.  We  also  observe  how  carefully  he  pro- 
ceeded, so  as  not  to  hasten  a  matter  of  such  importance. 
He  wished  to  receive  an  answer  to  his  letter  before  he  con- 
sented to  preach  on  Sunday  afternoon  in  St.  Michael's.  From 
Saturday  to  Sunday  he  stayed  with  Wrangel,  preached  at 
Wicaco  in  English,  celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper,  and  in  the 
afternoon  met  Handschuh,  who,  greatly  excited,  used  harsh 
words,  as  did  also  some  elders,  who  thought  a  meeting  of  the 
congregation  in  the  church  would  only  lead  to  rebellion  and 
strife.  Finally,  they  agreed  to  this — that  after  preaching  he 
should  announce  that  with  their  consent  he  might  re-enter  his 
pastoral  office  in  Philadelphia,  and  that  whosoever  had  objec- 
tions against  this  or  entertained  doubts  as  to  the  financial  ac- 
counts of  the  congregation  should  appear  on  Tuesday,  Aug. 
4th,  from  eight  to  twelve  A.  M.,  in  the  school-house.  This 
being  announced  after  services,  Muhlenberg  returned  Sunday 
evening  to  Wrangel.  On  Monday  he  was  appointed  an  advis- 
ing member  by  the  Wicaco  vestry,  and  was  requested  to  give 
answer  in  writing  to  the  question  whether,  in  connection  with 
the  Swedish  language,  the  Lutheran  doctrine  could  advan- 
tageously be  propagated  in  the  English  language.  At  a  later 
time  he  gave  an  elaborate  affirmative  answer.  In  the  after- 
noon, Wrangel  being  absent  on  official  business,  he  read  Dr. 


366  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Michaelis's  paraphrase  of  the  shorter  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  and 
was  reminded  of  his  meeting  with  that  scholar  nineteen  years 
before  at  Ziegenhagen's  in  London,  and  also  of  having  four 
years  before,  at  Halle,  received  instruction  from  him  concern- 
ing the  accents  in  Hebrew.  In  later  years  also  the  works  of 
Michaelis  offered  to  him  a  peculiar  interest. 

Accompanied  by  Wrangel,  Miihlenberg  on  Tuesday  morn- 
ing repaired  to  the  school-house,  which  was  well  rilled  by  the 
pastors,  vestry,  and  membership.  After  prayer  he  announced 
that  he  was  willing  again  to  undertake  his  office  in  Philadel- 
phia, provided  they  would  lay  aside  all  strife  and  quarrelling. 
Thereupon  words  and  sentiments  were  exchanged,  and  the 
sharpness  of  personal  feelings  seemed  to  grow  "  beautifully 
less."  To  Miihlenberg's  question  whether  any  one  here  pres- 
ent objected  to  his  returning  to  pastoral,  work  in  the  city,  all 
present,  with  loud  voice  and  offering  their  hands,  joyfully 
wished  God's  blessing.  The  speakers  of  the  progressive 
party  took  occasion  specially  to  urge  that  improved  con- 
gregational rules  of  order  and  discipline  should  be  intro- 
duced. Wrangel  and  Miihlenberg  impressively  entreated 
Handschuh  to  make  peace  with  those  whom  he  considered 
as  doing  him  wrong.  He  solemnly  affirmed  his  innocence 
and  complained  of  the  persecution  he  and  his  beloved  elders 
had  suffered,  but  was  willing  to  forgive,  provided  the  oppo- 
nents would  behave  better.  This  led  to  various  pleasant 
handshakings,  and  the  meeting  broke  up.  To  show  their 
good-will,  some  of  the  opponents  accompanied  Handschuh 
to  his  house.  Miihlenberg,  with  Wrangel,  paid  visits  to  a 
number  of  families,  and  inspected  the  house  which  druggist 
Schneider  intended  to  buy  for  Miihlenberg.  It  was  situated 
in  Vine  street,  and  was  somewhat  removed  from  the  then  set- 
tled and  built-up  part  of  the  city.  Muhlenberg  sold  his  house 
at  Providence,  with  a  portion  of  his  land,  to  Surgeon  Maertens, 
who,  however,  afterward  could  not  complete  the  bargain.  On 
Wednesday,  Muhlenberg  and  Wrangel  received  at  Wicaco 
a  visit  from  Handschuh.  The  following  day  Miihlenberg, 
after  having  taken  dinner  at  Handschuh's,  returned  to  Prov- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  367 

idence  and  entered  upon  the  difficult  task  of  making  arrange- 
ments with  his  country  charges  concerning  his  moving  to 
Philadelphia.  We  add  that  some  of  the  adherents  of  Hand- 
schuh  intimated  to  divers  of  the  members  of  the  congrega- 
tions at  Providence  and  New  Hanover  that  Miihlenberg's  ser- 
vices were  not  wanted  at  Philadelphia. 

Sunday,  Sept.  2/th,  Miihlenberg,  again  visiting  the  city, 
held  services  in  St.  Michael's  in  the  morning  and  in  the  after- 
noon, and  on  the  following  day  held  a  conference  with  Wran- 
gel  and  Kurtz  concerning  their  tour  of  visitation  in  New  Jer- 
sey and  New  York.  Amid  considerable  commotion  in  the 
congregations  he  delivered  his  farewell  sermons — Oct.  1 8th,  in 
German  and  English,  at  Providence,  Oct.  25th  at  New  Han- 
over. Oct.  29th  he  arrived  with  Mrs.  Miihlenberg  and  the 
youngest  child  at  Philadelphia.  About  six  miles  distant  from 
the  city  five  "  respectable  citizens  "  met  them,  and  conducted 
them  to  the  house  which  Muhlenberg  had  bought  with  the 
view  not  to  lay  more  burden  upon  the  vestry.  That  youngest 
child  was  Samuel;  another  son,  John  Charles,  born  Nov.  18, 
1760,  had  died  seven  days  after  his  birth.  In  Philadelphia 
three  more  children  were  born — Catharine  Salome,  Apr.  18, 
1764;  Mary  Salome,  July  13,  1766;  Emanuel  Samuel,  July 
n,  1769.  Of  these  three,  the  first  and  the  last  died  in  early 
infancy.  Samuel  also  was  taken  from  his  parents,  Feb.  16, 
1764,  at  the  age  of  six  years. 

Muhlenberg  read  to  the  congregation  (Sunday,  Nov.  1st), 
after  preaching,  a  document  wherein  he  affectionately  alluded 
to  former  times  and  experiences,  to  the  laborious  and  faithful 
services  of  the  elders — some  of  whom  were  still  living — dur- 
ing the  erection  of  St.  Michael's  Church,  to  the  causes  which 
had  moved  him  again  to  begin  his  work  in  this  congregation, 
and  offered  his  services  to  all  who  might  desire  them.  Of 
course,  no  one  knowing  human  nature  could  ever  expect  that 
the  strife  for  years  existing  between  the  parties,  the  frictions 
among  individuals  who  misunderstood,  misrepresented,  and 
mistrusted  one  another,  and  the  settled  differences  of  opinion 
on  grave  points,  would  at  once  come  to  an  end.  Unfortunately, 


368  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

the  press  had  been  used  to  make  the  difficulties  of  the  congre- 
gation still  more  public — a  thing  against  which  Miihlenberg 
protested  in  the  strongest  terms.  There  is  no  doubt  that  his 
presence  and  personal  influence  often  prevented  the  outbreak 
of  passion,  and  that  by  his  unselfish  and  unbiassed  deport- 
ment he  commanded  universal  respect.  It  came  to  pass  that  on 
Epiphany  (Jan.  6,  1762),  when  the  yearly  financial  report  was 
read  to  the  congregation,  and  also  H.  Keppele,  treasurer,  had 
read  the  account  of  the  building  of  the  school-house,  Miihl- 
enberg was  able  to  quiet  those  members  who  found  much 
fault  with  the  vestry  for  not  having  asked  the  consent  of 
the  congregation  to  such  an  undertaking.  He  convinced 
them  that  the  building  of  the  school-house  and  of  the 
parsonage  in  which  Handschuh  then — Miihlenberg  after- 
ward— resided  had  been  unavoidable,  and  that  the  school 
should  never*be  separated  from  the  church ;  to  all  of  which 
all  finally  gave  their  assent.  Subsequently,  in  a  vestry-meet- 
ing held  Jan.  I2th,  to  which  Wrangel  and  some  other  impar- 
tial friends  were  specially  invited,  Miihlenberg,  after  referring 
to  the  necessity  of  maintaining  peace  and  harmony  of  action, 
proposed  that  a  congregational  order  or  constitution  agreeing 
with  the  laws  of  the  province  should  be  framed  for  the  united 
Evangelical  congregations — not,  however,  without  due  consid- 
eration, repeated  deliberation  and  revision,  and  full  examina- 
tion in  all  its  parts — and  that  it  be  published.  He  also  stated 
that  some  of  the  elders  had  for  some  years  been  moving  in 
this  direction  at  the  meetings  of  synod.  To  all  this  the  im- 
partial friends  and  some  of  the  elders  of  the  congregation 
added  their  explanations,  and  finally  it  was  unanimously  re- 
solved to  introduce  a  new  congregational  order  or  constitu- 
tion. This  being  finished,  various  disagreements  and  personal 
offences  were  discussed  in  proper  spirit,  hands  were  again 
shaken  as  a  pledge  of  reconciliation,  tears  also  were  not 
wanting,  and  at  last,  after  all  was  properly  finished,  every  one 
went  his  way  rejoicing.  Of  the  resolutions  passed  at  that 
vestry-meeting  Miihlenberg  gave  notice  on  the  subsequent 
Sunday  to  an  unusually  large  assembly  in  St.  Michael's. 


HENRY  ME  LC HI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  369 

That  the  burden  of  framing  the  congregational  constitution 
would  be  laid  upon  Miihlenberg  was  to  be  expected.  We  are 
assured  that  he  went  to  work  with  a  prayerful  mind,  that  he 
examined  constitutions  in  use  in  various  churches,  and  that 
he  discussed  point  after  point  with  Wrangel,  Handschuh,  and 
other  friends.  The  sketch  of  a  constitution  drawn  up  by 
Brunnholtz  and  himself  in  1753  (the  year  of  the  revolution 
in  the  Germantown  congregation)  he  laid  (April  I4th)  before 
the  vestry,  and  they  promised  to  take  it  into  consideration. 
It  seems  that  Miihlenberg,  moved  by  good  reasons,  did  not 
bring  up  this  subject  before  the  synodical  meeting  held  June 
27-29,  1762,  at  Philadelphia.  Finally  (Oct.  I7th),  he  informed 
the  congregation  that  with  the  co-operation  of  Provost  Wran- 
gel, the  two  pastors,  and  the  whole  vestry  the  long-desired 
and  needed  congregational  constitution  was  now  prepared, 
and  that  it  was  of  such  a  character  "  that  it  might  without 
any  fears  be  laid  before  God,  all  Christendom,  and  all  the 
congregations  in  this  country,  since  it  had  in  view  the  honor 
of  God,  the  best  interests  of  the  congregation,  and  the  pro- 
motion of  peace,  order,  and  harmony  in  the  same,  and  since 
it  was  calculated  to  extend  among  us  the  comforting  gospel 
and  the  holy  sacraments,  and  to  make  them  the  possession 
of  our  children,  provided  that  we  give  room  within  us  to 
God's  grace  and  the  influence  of  his  Spirit  and  do  not  trifle 
with  our  soul's  salvation."  He  added  that,  in  agreement  with 
the  promise  already  made  to  have  this  new  constitution,  as 
was  right,  properly  and  distinctly  read  to  the  congregation, 
the  pastors,  elders,  and  deacons  request  all  those  members  of 
St.  Michael's  who  already  had  been  admitted  to  the  Lord's 
Supper  to  appear  to-morrow  morning  at  ten  o'clock  in  the 
church  to  hear  first  a  short  admonition  and  then  the  reading 
of  the  constitution.  He  also  warned  them  that  the  house  of 
God  was  no  place  for  strife  or  altercation,  neither  would  God's 
servants  and  children  indulge  in  such.  The  great  object  was 
to  have  and  to  preserve  in  the  congregation  peace,  unity,  con- 
ciliation, order.  He  wanted  every  one  who  intended  to  come 
first  to  offer  his  private  prayer  to  God,  and  to  bring  to  the 

24 


37O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

house  of  God  a  sober,  quiet,  peaceful  mind.  He  requested 
all  godly  mothers,  widows,  and  orphans  to  bring  their  suppli- 
cations to  the  throne  of  mercy  during  the  transaction,  that 
God,  the  heavenly  Father,  for  Christ's  sake,  might  crown  the 
day  with  his  blessings,  "to  the  end  that  in  our  country — espe- 
cially among  us  Germans  as  strangers — the  honor  of  God 
may  be  promoted,  piety  and  faith  dwell,  and  righteousness 
and  peace  embrace  and  kiss  each  other.  Amen." 

On  the  following  day  Wrangel  accompanied  Miihlenberg  to- 
the  church,  which  was  filled  with  men,  among  whom  was  a 
sprinkling  of  women  and  children.  After  the  first  hymn 
Wrangel  read  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of  Joshua.  When 
giving  out  the  second  hymn, "  Commit  thou  all  thy  griefs  and 
ways  into  His  hand,"  Miihlenberg  stated  that  at  the  laying  of 
the  first  stone  of  this  church-building  (1743)  this  same  hymn 
was  sung.  After  singing,  the  provost  made  a  very  impressive 
address  on  Phil.  ii.  1-4.  Finally,  after  prayers,  Miihlenberg 
dismissed  the  women  and  the  children,  and  then  with  loud 
and  distinct  voice  read  the  constitution.  Having  finished,  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  say  that,  for  one,  he  was  now  going  to  sign 
his  name,  and  in  case  of  need  for  it  sacrifice  his  last  hour,  just 
as  it  might  please  God :  any  one  who  was  of  one  mind  with 
him  should  now  do  the  same.  He  then  signed  his  name  to 
the  document.  Handschuh  followed  next,  then  the  elders 
and  the  deacons,  and,  pressing  forward,  more  than  two  hun- 
dred and  seventy  members  subscribed  their  names.  Many  left 
because  the  transaction  occupied  too  much  time ;  they  were 
subsequently  given  occasion  to  sign.  In  the  aggregate,  the 
names  of  about  five  hundred  heads  of  families  were  in  a  short 
time  entered. 

If  in  his  whole  life  Miihlenberg  had  done  nothing  else  of 
a  remarkable  character,  the  framing  and  introduction  of  this 
constitution  in  the  Philadelphia  congregation  would  suffice  to 
crown  his  head  with  lasting  honor.  He  braved  the  storms  of 
passion  previously  raging  in  that  congregation.  With  won- 
derful skill  he  controlled  the  two  parties  arrayed  against  each 
other.  He  fully  acknowledged  the  rights  of  the  Christian 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  371 

congregation  as  such  in  the  election  of  pastors,  vestrymen, 
and  other  officers  and  in  the  decision  of  all  questions  of  im- 
portance. But  he  was  not  inclined  to  make  the  vestry  simply 
a  committee  to  do  the  bidding  of  any  number  of  members 
meeting  ad  libitum  and  arbitrarily  decreeing  one  thing  and 
another.  He  clothed  the  board  of  officers,  to  whom  the 
pastors  belonged  ex  officio,  with  proper  rights,  even  retain- 
ing during  life  or  until  resignation  the  twelve  trustees  and 
*•  elders  then  in  office ;  and,  above  all,  he  guarded  the  confes- 
sional and  doctrinal  position  of  the  congregation  in  terms 
as  decisive  and  strong  as  such  a  popular  document  demands. 
When,  three  years  later,  the  congregation  received  its  charter 
from  the  provincial  government,  the  vestry  were  made  a  cor- 
poration legally  to  transact  business  in  behalf  of  the  congre- 
gation, and  therein  exercising  freedom  within  certain  well- 
defined  limits.  The  constitution,  ratified  Oct.  18,  1762,  was 
in  that  document  embodied  under  the  title  "  Fundamental 
Articles."  Later,  additional  acts  in  no  way  changed  these 
fundamental  articles.  Under  this  charter  and  constitution 
the  congregation  has  now  been  living  for  one  century  and  a 
quarter.  Taken  all  in  all,  a  better  one  could  not  be  given  to 
it.  Miihlenberg  could  not  foresee  that  a  Supreme  Court  of 
Pennsylvania  would  give  to  the  words  touching  qualification 
for  membership,  and  among  other  points  saying  that  those 
who  claim  rights  of  membership  must  "take  the  Lord's 
Supper  with  this  congregation,"  the  interpretation  "  whoso- 
ever there  once  communed."  In  1791  the  "Fundamental  Ar- 
ticles "  were  in  some  minor  points,  such  as  the  mode  of  the 
election  of  a  pastor,  changed,  but  none  of  the  essential  fea- 
tures of  the  document  were  thereby  affected.  It  was  adopted 
by  many  congregations  in  Pennsylvania  or  was  the  model 
after  which  they  framed  their  constitutions.  In  Halle  the  new 
constitution  was  added  in  its  original  form  to  the  tenth  con- 
tinuation of  the  Halle  Reports. 

When  synod  met  in  Philadelphia  (June  27-29,  1762),  Miihl- 
enberg's  request  not  to  be  re-elected  praeses  was  not  granted :  he 
was  told  that  he  was  wanted  in  that  responsible  and  honor- 


372   -  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

able  position  until  the  congregations  were  brought  to  order. 
When,  in  spite  of  his  decided  remonstrance  at  the  synodical 
meeting  of  the  following  year  (Oct.  iQth),  he  was  again  elected 
"praeses"  and  the  brethren  congratulating  him  offered  their 
hands,  he  refused  to  take  them.  Certainly,  he  had  in  those 
times  work  enough  on  hand  in  taking  care  of  the  field  of  labor 
in  Philadelphia  and  of  his  country  congregations,  among  which 
he  made  it  a  rule  to  appear  at  least  once  in  six  weeks,  and  for 
the  rest  had  undertaken  to  provide  for  them  as  best  he  could.- 
But  synod  had  no  man  who  could  command  the  respect  which 
he  enjoyed  among  all  the  congregations,  and  who  could  exer- 
cise an  equally  strong  and  happy  influence.  At  the  meeting 
of  synod  in  1762  two  Swedish  pastors — A.  Borell  of  Wilming- 
ton and  J.  Wicksell  from  Raccoon,  N.  J.— were  present  besides 
Wrangel,  and  all  three  actively  participated  in  the  German 
public  services.  J.  Sam.  Schwerdfeger,  whom  we  mentioned 
on  a  former  occasion,  was  at  that  meeting  of  synod  received 
into  the  ministerium.  He  underwent  an  examination  and  laid 
satisfactory  testimonials  before  synod.  It  appears  that  he  was 
ordained,  not  in  Europe,  but  by  some  "  orthodox  "  pastors  in 
this  country ;  which  ordination  synod  acknowledged.  These 
pastors  seemed  to  have  been  stationed  in  the  neighborhood 
of  York,  but  were  not  members  of  synod.  The  ordination 
may  have  taken  place  soon  after  Schwerdfeger's  arrival  in 
this  country. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  373 


CHAPTER    XXTII. 

1762  et  seq. 

New  York  and  Germantown  claim  the  attention  of  synod. — J.  N.  Kurtz  for  a  time 
at  Germantown. — Rev.  J.  A.  Krug  and  Rev.  J.  L.  Voigt  arrive. — Voigt  elected 
pastor  at  Germantown. — The  congregation  reunited  with  synod. — Succeeding 
pastors. — Arrival  of  Rev.  J.  Fr.  Schmidt  and  Rev.  J.  H.  Chr.  Helmuth. — Origin 
of  St.  Peter's  Church  at  Barren  Hill. — Difficulties  in  its  progress. — Muhlen- 
berg's  embarrassment  and  release. — The  Solms-Roedelsheim  legacy. — Mtihl- 
enberg's  plan  to  establish  an  orphan-house  and  a  seminary  for  the  education 
of  pastors. — His  care  of  all  the  congregations  connected  with  synod. — Re- 
peated visits  at  Reading,"  Tulpehoken,  Cohansey,  the  Raritan,  and  other  con- 
gregations.— J.  G.  Jung. — Christian  Streit. — Baron  Stiegel. — Rev.  J.  G.  Eager. 
— Rev.  Chas.  F.  Wildbahn. — Extent  of  synod. — J.  C.  Stoever  in  membership 
with  synod. 

AMONG  the  subjects  engaging  the  attention  of  the  synod- 
ical  meeting  in  1762  was  the  condition  of  the  German 
Lutheran  congregations  at  New  York  and  at  Germantown. 
Rev.  J.  S.  Gerock  was  prevailed  upon  to  pay  a  visit  to  New 
York  which  subsequently  led  to  his  being  called  there,  as 
we  formerly  learned.  The  Germantown  congregation,  as  we 
know,  was  from  1753  divided  into  two  parts.  The  smaller 
one,  remaining  faithful  to  Handschuh  and  the  synod  during 
the  congregational  revolution  going  on  there,  had  been 
attended  to,  after  Handschuh's  removal  to  Philadelphia,  as 
well  as  the  Philadelphia  and  other  pastors  could  do  it.  In  the 
other  congregation,  which  was  under  the  care — or  the  care- 
lessness— first  of  Andreae,  afterward  of  Rapp,  and  which  had 
possession  of  the  church  and  the  parsonage,  in  the  course  of 
years  a  reaction  began  to  take  place.  It  seems  that  some  of 
the  members  of  Rapp's  party  joined  the  other  and  better  side. 
At  the  synod  of  1762  more  than  one  hundred  Lutheran  fam- 
ilies of  Germantown  and  the  neighborhood  petitioned  for  a 


374  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

pastor  and  regular  services.  Synod,  fully  understanding  the 
importance  of  the  situation,  resolved  to  send  J.  N.  Kurtz  there 
as  the  proper  man  at  that  time  to  take  charge  of  the  Lu- 
theran interests  at  Germantown.  Miihlenberg  himself  laid 
(June  26th)  the  case  before  the  Tulpehoken  congregation,  who 
were  opposed  to  Kurtz  leaving  them,  and  succeeded  in  receiv- 
ing their  assent  to  the  temporary  absence  of  their  beloved  pas- 
tor ;  they  also  resolved  to  leave  the  parsonage  unoccupied 
during  the  interval.  After  some  time,  however,  J.  N.  Kurtz's 
younger  brother,  William,  whom  we  met  before,  moved  into 
it,  and  served  the  congregation  during  his  brother's  absence. 
He  had  from  1745  to  1750  been  educated  in  the  Halle  Or- 
phan-House, and  had  then  until  1754  attended  the  Halle  Uni- 
versity lectures  on  various  branches  of  theology.  We  know 
that  after  his  arrival  in  this  country,  in  1754,  he  was  for  a  time 
under  Miihlenberg's  tuition,  in  1757  began  pastoral  labors  at 
Tohicon,  was  ordained  at  the  synodical  meeting  at  Lancaster 
in  1761,  and  entered  in  1763  upon  his  work  as  pastor  at  New 
Holland  and  its  vicinity. 

Surely,  J.  N.  Kurtz  performed  a  good  work  at  Germantown. 
The  genuine  Lutheran  elements  there  took  courage.  The 
German  Reformed  congregation  kindly  granted  to  such  Lu- 
therans the  free  use  of  their  house  of  worship  whenever  cir- 
cumstances permitted.  But  it  needed  the  strong  arm  of  the 
civil  court  to  settle  some  of  the  questions  at  issue  between  the 
two  parties.  It  seems  that  some  of  those  who  for  a  number 
of  years  had  held  to  Rapp,  but  now  forsook  him  in  disgust, 
claimed  the  right  of  burying  in  the  cemetery  belonging  to  the 
church  ;  this  right  Rapp  and  his  adherents  disputed. ,  The  con- 
troversy became  so  exciting  that  the  opponents  of  Rapp  formed 
the  plan  of  forcibly  ejecting  him  from  the  church  and  the  pulpit 
on  a  Sunday ;  which  plan  did  not  at  all  meet  with  the  assent' 
of  Miihlenberg.  The  questions  laid  before  court  embraced 
the  right  not  only  to  use  the  cemetery,  but  also  the  use  of 
the  church.  The  decision  given  April  12,  1763,  granted  to 
the  petitioners  the  right  to  have  possession  of  the  key  and  to 
be  entitled  to  use  the  church  mornings  and  afternoons  alter- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  375 

nately  with  the  other  party.  Sunday,  April  1 7th,  in  the  after- 
noon, Muhlenberg,  though  he  had  been  informed  that  some 
ill-willed  people  intended  grossly  to  insult  him,  went  to  the 
Germantown  church  and  preached  there.  He  preached  again 
on  Sunday  morning,  April  24th,  to  a  very  large  and  attentive 
assembly.  The  difficulties,  however,  were  not  totally  removed 
by  the  decision  of  the  court.  Each  party  wanted  to  have  sole 
and  exclusive  possession.  March  27,  1765,  Muhlenberg  learned 
that  both  sides  had  agreed  to  submit  the  matter  to  four  arbi- 
trators. The  final  decision  came  when,  July  12,  1765,  both 
parties,  in  consequence  of  an  agreement,  held  an  election  in 
the  presence  of  two  justices  of  the  peace.  The  candidates 
nominated  were  Rapp  and  Rev.  J.  L.  Voigt.  The  latter  had 
arrived,  with  Rev.  J.  A.  Krug,  from  Halle,  April  I,  1764,  and 
in  June  of  the  same  year  had  been  appointed  by  Muhlenberg, 
prasses  of  synod,  to  serve  the  Lutherans  at  Germantown  and 
at  Barren  Hill,  a  locality  which  we  shall  hereafter  mention. 
The  result  of  the  election — which  result  surprised  the  whole 
community — was  that  Rapp  did  not  receive  one  vote,  while 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  heads  of  families  elected  Voigt. 
This  ended  Rapp's  scandalous  career  in  Germantown.  Now 
the  Lutherans  deserving  this  name  were  again  in  legitimate 
possession  of  the  church.  J.  Nich.  Kurtz  had  returned  to 
Tulpehoken.  Voigt  at  once  began  his  labors  in  the  Ger- 
mantown congregation,  but  continued  only  until  Dec.  8th  of 
the  same  year,  when  he  moved  to  New  Hanover,  and  served 
also  Zion  Church,  west  of  the  Schuylkill,  formerly  under 
the  care  of  Jacob  van  Buskirk,  who  in  December,  1765,  took 
Voigt's  place  at  Germantown.  Already  in  May,  1763,  J.  N. 
Kurtz,  then  stationed  at  Germantown  and  Barren  Hill,  report- 
ed to  Muhlenberg,  on  his  return  from  a  visit  to  his  country 
congregations,  that  by  his  agency,  assisted  by  Provost  Wran- 
gel,  the  conservative,  faithful  part  of  the  Germantown  congre- 
gation had  been  moved  to  adopt  and  subscribe  to  the  constitu- 
tion'adopted  in  St.  Michael's.  The  successor  of  Van  Buskirk 
from  1769  to  1786  was  Rev.  John  Fr.  Schmidt  (born  1746), 
who  with  his  devoted  friend,  Rev.  Justus  H.  Chr.  Helmuth 


376  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

(born  1745),  had  arrived  in  this  country  from  Halle  April  2, 
1769.  Under  him  as  a  pastor  the  congregation  increased, 
though  the  times  were  warlike  and  Germantown  (Oct.  7, 
1777)  became  the  field  of  battle.  During  this  stormy  period 
Schmidt  had  to  leave  Germantown.  Miihlenberg  says  in 
his  diary  (Jan.  21,  1778) :  "  We  had  a  welcome  visit  from  our 
brother,  Rev.  Schmidt,  formerly  pastor  at  Germantown,  but 
for  some  time  without  any  engagement  and  a  fugitive,  his 
congregation  being  scattered  and  deprived  of  their  means  of 
subsistence.  Schmidt  sojourns  with  his  family  at  the  present 
time  at  Upper  Milford,  in  the  house  of  a  Jew  converted  to 
Christianity  and  baptized.  He  narrates  to  us  various  dread- 
ful and  distressing  events."  It  was  the  time  during  the  war 
when  the  English  had  temporarily  made  themselves  masters 
of  Philadelphia.  Schmidt,  having  returned  to  Germantown 
after  their  retreat,  greatly  encouraged  his  people  and  took 
care  of  a  number  of  outposts.  When,  in  1784,  Dr.  Kunze 
was  called  to  New  York,  Dr.  Schmidt  was  elected  Dr.  Hel- 
muth's  colaborer  in  the  Philadelphia  congregation,  and  with 
him  fraternally  continued  to  do  the  work  of  the  common 
Master  until  May  16,  1812,  when  he  was  called  to  his  rest. 
Helmuth  was  considered  the  more  powerful  and  popular 
preacher;  Schmidt  was  a  man  of  profound  scholarship  in  the- 
ology, literature,  and  languages;  both  received  the  title  of 
D.  D.  from  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  Helmuth  resigned 
his  office — which  he  had  held  forty  years — in  1820,  and  died 
in  1825.  Schmidt's  successor  at  Germantown  was  Rev.  J. 
F.  Weinland,  born  at  Roemhild  in  Prussian  Saxony.  After 
studying  theology  at  Halle  (1769-72)  and  serving  as  private 
tutor  and  assistant  preacher  he  was  sent  in  1783  to  Pennsyl- 
vania by  the  directors  of  the  Halle  institution,  the  last  mis- 
sionary sent  from  that  place.  He  left  Germantown  in  1789, 
served  (1789-9 5)  at  New  Hanover,  and  became  involved  in  dif- 
ficulties, and  after  that  his  name  disappears  from  the  ministe- 
rial list.  His  successor  at  Germantown  for  a  period  of  twenty- 
two  years  was  Rev.  Fred.  Dav.  Schaeffer,  after  the  death  of 
Schmidt  called  to  the  Philadelphia  congregation.  During  his 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  377 

official  term  at  Germantown  the  English  language  occasion- 
ally came  into  use  in  the  public  services  of  the  congregation. 
The  disturbance  of  the  Germantown  congregation  during 
1753  led  to  the  formation  of  a  new  Lutheran  congrega- 
tion near  Whitemarsh,  about  twelve  miles  north  of  Philadel- 
phia, where,  on  a  sandy  hill  called  Barren  Hill,  a  church,  St. 
Peter's,  was  erected,  which  gave  unexpected  anxiety  and  dis- 
tress to  Miihlenberg  and  some  of  his  friends.  In  that  neigh- 
borhood Germans  had  been  settled  for  a  number  of  years ; 
some  of  them  had  been  in  the  membership  of  the  Germantown 
church.  When,  in  1755,  Handschuh  moved  to  Philadelphia 
and  no  hope  was  entertained  that  the  Germantown  congre- 
gation— then,  under  Rapp,  having  possession  of  the  church- 
building  and  the  cemetery — would  ever  return  to  the  synod  or 
be  reunited  with  the  Philadelphia  congregation,  some  Luther- 
an and  German  Reformed  families  bought  on  that  sandy  hill, 
where  the  roads  from  Philadelphia  and  Germantown  meet, 
an  acre  of  land  for  the  erection  of  a  school-house  and  for  a 
place  of  burial.  The  deed  is  dated  May  14,  1758.  Both  par- 
ties united  in  building  the  school-house,  which  was  used  not 
only  for  school  purposes,  but  occasionally  for  public  services 
held  by  Lutheran  pastors.  Some  heads  of  families,  formerly 
elders  of  Germantown,  attached  themselves  to  this  new  enter- 
prise. It  was  soon  discovered  that  the  school-house  was 
entirely  too  small  for  public  services.  In  1759,  Christopher 
Raben  of  Whitemarsh,  Wighard  Miiller,  and  Chr.  Jacobi  of 
Germantown  informed  Miihlenberg  at  Providence  that  they 
intended  to  erect  at  Barren  Hill  a  church  which  was  to  be 
under  synod  and  in  connection  with  the  Philadelphia  congre- 
gation. They  expected  financial  assistance  from  Europe,  but 
were  told  that  from  that  source  they  could  at  the  utmost 
receive,  possibly,  fifty  pounds.  Chr.  Raben  bought  an  addi- 
tional piece  of  ground  (not  quite  an  acre),  elected  Rich.  Peters, 
Wrangel,  Miihlenberg,  and  other  gentlemen — some  of  them 
formerly  members  of  the  Germantown  congregation — trustees, 
transferred  the  deed  to  them,  and  appointed  the  parochial 
teacher,  Selig,  accountant  for  the  building  expenses.  The 


3/8  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

erection  of  the  church  began,  but  at  the  same  time  the  clamor 
for  money.  Miihlenberg  was  the  man  who  was  expected  to 
help  by  sending  through  the  united  congregations  collecting- 
agents  with  testimonials  given  by  him.  In  the  building  of 
the  church  the  Reformed  had  no  share.  Under  pressing  neces- 
sity Raben  and  three  of  his  associates  created,  June  30,  1760, 
an  interest-bearing  debt  of  one  hundred  pounds,  and  June  4, 
1761,  another  debt,  of  two  hundred  pounds.  Before  the  roof 
was  put  on  the  building  Miihlenberg  and  Wrangel  were  urged 
time  and  again  to  preach  between  the  bare  walls.  Raben 
tried  to  help  himself  out  of  his  difficulties  by  the  instrumen- 
tality of  a  lottery — in  those  times  a  means  often  used  to  raise 
funds  with  which  to  erect  houses  of  worship.  He  realized 
thereby  about  fifty  pounds.  In  1763  the  church  was  under 
roof,  but  the  debts  had  increased  and  there  was  no  security 
for  their  payment.  When  (June  n,  1764)  Raben  and  Selig 
laid  the  whole  account  before  the  trustees,  no  one  was  will- 
ing to  make  himself  responsible  for  the  debt.  Public  services 
were  continued  by  Wrangel  and  Muhlenberg,  and,  the  attend- 
ance being  large,  an  impression  was  thereby  made  upon  the 
decreasing  Rapp  party  at  Germantown,  about  six  miles  dis- 
tant, and  the  credit  of  the  Halle  pastors  began  to  rise.  When, 
in  February,  1765,  one  of  the  creditors  wanted  his  loan  of 
two  hundred  returned,  and  other  debts  were  to  be  paid,  an- 
other loan,  of  three  hundred  pounds,  was  made  in  Philadel- 
phia, for  which  Henry  Keppele  gave  bonds.  There  was  now 
an  interest-bearing  debt  of  four  hundred  pounds,  to  which 
other  obligations — for  building  material,  etc. — had  to  be 
added.  When  the  .Germantown  congregation  was  again 
united  with  synod,  a  number  of  members  who  for  a  time  had 
assisted  Barren  Hill  returned  to  their  former  congregation, 
which  was  nearer  to  their  homes.  This  increased  the  Barren 
Hill  difficulties.  Raben  and  his  friends  thought  of  extricat- 
ing themselves  by  sending  a  church- officer  and  the  teacher 
Selig  as  collecting-agents  to  Europe,  and  to  strengthen  their 
bonds  by  recommendations  to  England  through  Rich.  Peters, 
to  Sweden  through  Wrangel,  to  Germany  through  Miihlen- 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  379 

berg,  and  by  testimonials  from  the  governor  of  Pennsylvania. 
At  a  conference  held  in  Philadelphia,  March  I,  1765,  the  pre- 
liminaries for  this  plan,  inclusive  of  a  constitution  of  the  con- 
gregation, were  resolved  upon,  and  Raben  and  his  friends 
rejoiced;  but  a  reaction  set  in,  and  for  various  and  strong 
reasons  the  plan  was  dropped.  Another  meeting  took  place 
Mar.  13,  1765.  With  tears  in  their  eyes  Raben  and  his  asso- 
ciates insisted  upon  the  carrying  out  of  the  collecting-plan, 
and  Raben  finally  made  the  threat  that  unless  he  was  extri- 
cated from  his  embarrassing  condition  he  would  sell  the 
church  to  "  any  sect,  even  to  the  Papists."  Finally,  in  this 
crisis  Keppele,  Wrangel,  and  Miihlenberg  each  obligated 
himself  for  one-third  of  the  debt.  Of  course  this  noble  act 
caused  much  rejoicing  at  Barren  Hill.  Miihlenberg  addressed 
Rich.  Peters,  then  in  England,  also  Ziegenhagen  at  London, 
Francke  at  Halle,  and  others,  in  behalf  of  the  needy  congre- 
gation at  Barren  Hill.  A  collection  in  the  Anglican  Church 
for  a  non-conformist  congregation  was  not  allowed  in  Eng- 
land, but  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  sent  twenty  guineas 
out  of  his  private  means.  In  the  Lutheran  churches  at  Lon- 
don impediments  were  found,  and  in  Sweden  some  prejudices 
had  been  excited  against  Wrangel,  who  made  his  appeals 
there  through  letters  sent  by  pastors  under  his  own  superin- 
tendence. Miihlenberg  was  greatly  embarrassed  by  a  Re- 
formed creditor  who  in  1766  wished  his  loan  of  one  hundred 
pounds,  with  fifteen  pounds'  interest,  paid  to  him,  and  threat- 
ened to  bring  the  matter  before  court.  Under  these  circum- 
stances Miihlenberg  had  a  transfer  made  of  the  ground  and 
buildidgs  at  Barren  Hill  by  deed  to  St.  Michael's  corporation 
at  Philadelphia,  so  as  to  afford  a  legal  protection.  On  Dec. 
9,  1766,  Miihlenberg  was  obliged  to  borrow  one  hundred  and 
twelve  pounds  on  his  own  personal  responsibility  to  pay  the 
Reformed  claimant.  He  had  even  considered  the  advisability 
of  satisfying  the  claims  against  him  as  one  of  the  bondsmen 
with  the  rest  of  his  wife's  paternal  inheritance ;  but  Mrs.  Miihl- 
enberg— who  most  probably  was  not  ignorant  of  the  fact  that 
already  in  May,  1762,  no  less  than  three  hundred  pounds  of 


380  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

her  inheritance  from  her  father,  Conrad  Weiser,  had  been  con- 
sumed for  the  support  of  the  family — very  properly  interposed 
the  claims  of  her  children,  and  in  this  just  view  of  the  case 
would  not  be  moved  even  by  her  husband's  quoting,  "  Take 
they  then  our  life,  goods,  fame,  child,  and  wife,"  but  on  her 
part  quoted  verses  and  gospel  words  in  reply.  Wrangel  was 
at  that  time  engaged  in  building  two  churches,  at  Kingsessing 
and  Upper  Merion,  and  H.  Keppele  was  heavily  burdened  by 
the  very  expensive  building  of  Zion  Church,  then  undertaken 
by  the  Philadelphia  congregation.  Some  of  the  creditors  had 
already  given  into  the  hands  of  lawyers  the  obligations  held 
by  them.  A  lawsuit  was  averted  by  H.  Keppele,  who  in 
June,  1768,  liberally  satisfied  some  of  the  most  pressing 
claims.  Miihlenberg  and  his  friends  paid  the  interest  of 
other  debts,  and  by  united  efforts  removed  some  of  the 
smaller  obligations. 

It  is  doubtful  how  long  they  would  have  been  able  to  keep 
the  enemy  from  their  doors.  Creditors  could  unite  and  at 
once  bring  calamity  upon  the  men  who,  moved  by  most  lib- 
eral and  Christian  principles,  had  taken  a  great  responsibility 
upon  themselves.  In  those  times  debtors,  though  without  any 
moral  blemish  upon  their  character,  could  be  sent  to  prison. 
But  the  darkest  night  is  followed  by  the  light  of  morning. 
Miihlenberg  had  frequently  sent  petitions  to  Halle  in  behalf  of 
Barren  Hill.  The  answer  was  that  the  money  collected  for  the 
Lutheran  congregations  in  Pennsylvania  had  in  these  years 
been  used  to  pay  the  travelling  expenses  to  America  of  the 
missionaries  Voigt,  Krug,  and  Chr.  Em.  Schulze ;  there  was 
no  money  for  Barren  Hill.  But  during  that  year  (1768)  ninety 
pounds'  worth  of  the  widely-celebrated  Halle  medicines  came 
to  Miihlenberg,  with  the  direction  to  give  of  the  proceeds 
sixty  pounds  as  a  Halle  contribution  to  the  building  of  Zion 
Church  at  Philadelphia,  and  thirty  pounds  to  extinguish  in 
part  the  Barren  Hill  debts.  This  was  some  glimmer  of  help 
much  prayed  for,  and,  indeed,  an  earnest  of  better  things  to 
come.  Aug.  4,  1768,  Miihlenberg  received  from  good  old 
Ziegenhagen  in  London  a  draft  for  one  hundred  pounds 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  381 

sterling,  payable  at  sight  in  Philadelphia.  Now  he  could 
discharge  his  own  obligations  and  those  of  his  friend  H. 
Keppele.  When  in  his  diary  Miihlenberg  arrives  at  this 
point  in  his  narrative,  he  breaks  out  in  praises  and  thanks  to 
God,  who  hears  the  prayers  and  remembers  the  cares  and 
anxieties  of  his  children.  But  not  all  the  burden  resulting 
from  the  Barren  Hill  enterprise,  carried  out  by  well-meaning 
men  in  an  inconsiderate  manner,  was  taken  away  by  this  most 
timely  assistance :  there  was  yet  an  interest-bearing  debt  of 
three  hundred  pounds.  This  difficulty,  however,  was  also 
relieved  in  a  most  unexpected  manner.  It  appears  that  the 
Fathers  at  Halle  had  told  a  godly  German  nobleman,  Count 
Solms-Roedelsheim,  of  the  embarrassed  condition  in  which 
Miihlenberg  and  his  friends  found  themselves  in  consequence 
of  their  connection  with  Barren  Hill.  Moved  by  the  good 
Spirit  from  on  high,  the  count  set  apart,  of  a  donation  of 
thirteen  thousand  florins  intended  for  the  relief  of  well-ap- 
proved indigent  Lutheran  pastors  and  teachers  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  to  be  safely  invested  for  this  purpose,  three  thou- 
sand florins,  for  the  purpose  that  with  this  sum — amounting 
to  about  two  hundred  and  eighty-four  pounds  sterling — the 
Barren  Hill  obligations  should  be  satisfied,  and  that  Miihlen- 
berg, his  wife,  and  his  children,  should  be  entirely  relieved  of 
all  further  claims  in  that  matter.  The  remaining  sum,  fifty- 
eight  pounds,  was  by  Miihlenberg  applied  to  other  interests 
of  the  Church  needing  charitable  attention.  To  prove  that 
the  sympathy  and  the  active  liberality  of  the  Fathers  in  Lon- 
don and  Halle,  of  the  noble-minded  count,  and  of  other  Chris- 
tian friends  beyond  the  Atlantic  were  fully  appreciated  on  this 
side  of  the  ocean,  the  St.  Michael  and  Zion  corporation  for- 
mally assigned,  for  the  period  of  ninety-nine  years  (Jan.  14, 
1771),  all  the  ground,  buildings,  and  appurtenances  of  the 
Lutheran  church  property  at  Barren  Hill  to  Ziegenhagen  and 
the  Rev.  Gust.  Burgmann  at  London,  and  to  the  doctors  and 
directors,  Geo.  Knapp  (G.  A.  Francke  had  died  Sept.  2,  1769) 
and  A.  Freylinghausen,  at  Halle,  for  an  orphan-house  and 
school  to  be  established  there,  and  for  Lutheran  church  ser- 


382  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

vices.  It  was  for  a  long  time  in  the  mind  of  Miihlenberg  to 
establish  an  orphan-house,  and  at  the  same  time  to  use  it  for 
the  education  and  the  preparation'  of  young  men  for  the  min- 
isterial office.  He  also  thought  that  old  and  decrepit  pastors 
might  find  a  refuge  in  such  an  institution.  That  the  plan  was 
not  executed  was  not  his  fault  The  Barren  Hill  congregation 
was  served  at  first  by  Miihlenberg  and  Wrangel — in  connection 
with  Germantown  by  J.  N.  Kurtz,  Voigt,  and  Schmidt.  Fred. 
Dav.  SchaefTer,  D.  D.,  served  Germantown,  Barren  Hill, 
Frankford,  White  Plain,  and  Upper  Dublin.  Barren  Hill  is 
now  in  connection  with  the  Syftod  of  East  Pennsylvania. 

While  seriously  engaged  with  the  care  of  the  Philadelphia 
charge,  Miihlenberg  kept  a  watchful  eye  upon  all  the  churches 
connected  with  synod.  In  this  he  not  only  performed  his 
duty  as  praeses  of  synod,  but  followed  also  the  inclination  of 
his  heart.  If  of  any  one  we  might  say  that  he  was  born  a 
missionary,  we  can  say  it  of  him.  From  time  to  time,  as  he 
had  promised,  he  paid  visits  to  his  country  congregations, 
which  would  not  formally  release  him  from  his  obligations  to 
them.  From  these  he  extended,  as  circumstances  required, 
his  tours  to  Reading  and  Tulpehoken.  He  also  visited  the 
Lutherans  at  Cohansey  in  New  Jersey.  In  1767  (Apr.  23d)  he 
left  Philadelphia  and  visited  the  congregations  at  New  Ger- 
mantown and  Bedminster  in  New  Jersey,  and  Friday,  May 
1st,  was  present  in  New  York  at  the  dedication  of  Christ 
Church,  erected  by  the  Germans,  who  at  that  time  had  ex- 
tended a  call  to  Gerock.  Sunday,  May  3d,  Miihlenberg 
preached  in  the  new  church  on  Gen.  xxii.  7,  8 ;  on  Tuesday, 
May  3d,  in  the  old  Dutch  church ;  left  New  York  the  follow- 
ing day;  paid  another  visit  to  Bedminster,  New  Germantown, 
and  "  In  the  Valley;"  preached^in  German  and  in  English,  and 
administered  the  Lord's  Supper  to  these  congregations,  which 
then  were  vacant,  Prizelius  having  left  them  in  1766.  They 
tried  their  best  to  persuade  Miihlenberg  to  come  and  spend 
his  old  age  with  them;  they  even  gave  him  a  regular  call. 
Friday,  May  1 5th,  he  returned  to  Philadelphia.  Again  he 
paid  a  visit  to  these  New  Jersey  congregations  in  February, 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  383 

1 769,  when  his  oldest  son,  Peter,  was  there  as  a  beginner  in 
ministerial  work ;  on  this  occasion  the  son  read  the  Liturgy 
and  his  father  preached.  Peter  had  won  golden  opinions,  and 
was  unanimously  demanded  as  his  father's  substitute  in  the 
charge.  When,  in  consequence  of  a  call  from  Virginia  in 
the  spring  of  1772,  Peter  had  gone  to  England  to  receive 
Episcopal  ordination  (whereof  we  shall  speak  hereafter),  his 
father  visited  this  field  in  May  of  that  year.  His  third 
son,  Henry  Ernest,  had  for  some  weeks  instructed  there  a 
class  of  catechumens,  and  the  father  now  came  to  finish  the 
course,  to  examine  and  confirm  them.  He  also  wanted  to  be 
released  from  all  further  responsibility  concerning  these  con- 
gregations, and  proposed  to  them,  as  pastor,  Gerock,  then  in- 
volved in  difficulties  at  New  York.  Van  Buskirk,  also  J.  Geo. 
Jung,  sent  from  London  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wachsel  (1768), 
ordained  1770,  and  Christian  Streit,  born  in  New  Jersey  some 
miles  distant  from  New  Germantown,  educated  at  Philadel- 
phia, and  there  prepared  by  Miihlenberg  and  Wrangel  for  the 
sacred  office,  after  being  licensed  (1769)  by  synod,  serving 
during  ten  years  the  Lutheran  church  at  Easton,  paid  them 
visits.  But  it  appears  that  the  services  of  none  of  these  men 
were  acceptable.  On  this  tour  Miihlenberg  was  accompanied 
by  one  of  his  daughters,  who  unfortunately  suffered  an  acute 
attack  of  fever.  This  occasions  his  remark :  "  When  I  had 
my  home  in  the  country  my  children  ran  about  barefooted 
and  were  used  to  rough  ways  of  living ;  but  since  I  live  in  the 
city  they  are  reared  rather  delicately,  can  no  longer  endure 
joltings  when  riding  in  country  wagons  and  the  many  changes 
of  the  weather,  and  their  wings  droop  like  those  of  turkeys 
when  they  get  wet."  But  he  hurried  to  see  and  to  comfort 
his  sick  child.  With  her  he  returned  (May  nth)  to  Phil- 
adelphia. In  1762  (Feb.  i6th  until  March  8th)  Miihlenberg, 
during  an  unusually  cold  season,  visited  Providence,  New 
Hanover,  Reading — where  he  had  intercourse  with  his  rela- 
tives and  the  Rev.  B.  M.  Hausihl — also  Heidelberg,  Tulpe- 
hoken,  Lebanon,  the  iron-works  of  Henry  William  Stiegel 
(called  Elizabeth  Furnace),  and  Conestoga.  In  most  of  these 


384  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

places  he  delivered  sermons  and  attended  to  other  pastoral 
duties.  On  account  of  the  eccentricities  of  his  character 
Baron  Stiegel,  as  he  was  called,  deserves  special  mention. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  Church,  appeared  as  a 
delegate  at  synod,  and  took  care  of  the  spiritual  wants  of 
the  many  who  were  in  his  employ  by  erecting  a  church  for 
them  and  endeavoring  to  supply  them  with  pastoral  ser- 
vices. It  is  said  that  he  was  born  at  Mannheim  on  the 
Rhine.  About  his  former  life  nothing  is  known,  but  his 
manners  indicated  that  he  had  moved  in  well-bred  society. 
When,  in  1/58,  he  appeared  in  Lancaster  county,  Pa.,  he 
established  Mannheim  on  a  tract  of  land  bought  by  him, 
and  besides  extensive  glass-works,  built  for  himself  a  splen- 
did mansion,  and  in  connection  with  the  latter  a  chapel,  in 
which  he  himself  "  was  accustomed  to  conduct  divine  wor- 
ship for  those  in  his  employ."  He  also  built  in  Lebanon 
county,  six  miles  from  Schaefferstown,  an  iron-furnace,  and 
named  it,  in  honor  of  his  wife,  Elizabeth.  He  is  said  to  have 
driven  a  team  of  eight  fine  horses,  to  have  been  accompanied 
on  his  journeys  by  a  band  of  musicians,  and  to  have  had  a 
cannon  fired  whenever  he  visited  his  furnaces  or  returned 
home.  The  impression  the  man  and  his  whole  bearing  made 
upon  the  simple-minded,  rigoristic  Mennonites  and  other  sects 
in  his  neighborhood  is  reflected  in  these  legends.  But,  with 
all  this,  he  was  a  practical  character,  and  for  a  time  was  finan- 
cially successful.  Perhaps  undertaking  too  much  in  conse- 
quence of  the  disturbance  of  the  provincial  trade  by  the 
unhappy  relations  with  England,  he  was  overwhelmed  by 
misfortune  and  put  in  prison  as  an  insolvent  debtor,  but  was 
set  free  (Dec.  24,  1774)  by  a  special  act  of  the  legislature. 
Yet  in  1783  we  trace  him  to  Heidelberg,  Berks  county,  Pa. 
His  further  history  is  shrouded  in  obscurity,  the  vague 
rumors  of  his  having  at  last  served  as  schoolmaster  or 
having  died  in  the  poorhouse  not  being  substantiated. 

When  the  dedication  of  the  new  church-building  at  York 
took  place  (Sept.  17,  1762),  Miihlenberg,  though  praeses  of 
synod,  was  glad  that  his  friend  Provost  Wrangel  consented 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  385 

to  be  present,  as  it  would  have  been  very  unpleasant  to  him 
then  to  appear  in  that  locality.  Rev.  Raus,  of  whom  we 
formerly  heard,  was  at  that  time  pastor  of  the  York  congre- 
gation. Prejudiced  as  he  was  against  Miihlenberg,  who  in 
various  ways  had  benefited  him,  he  had  in  1761,  at  the  meet- 
ing of  synod  at  Lancaster,  lodged  against  Muhlenberg  charges 
of  heterodoxy  and  misconduct,  which,  as  we  formerly  men- 
tioned, were  handed  to  Wrangel  and  Borell  as  an  investigating 
committee.  In  an  elaborate  refutation  in  writing,  still  extant, 
with  just  and  manly  indignation  and  in  a  perfectly  dignified 
manner  Muhlenberg  shows  the  palpable  and  gross  injustice 
done  him  by  Raus,  who  persisted  in  his  wrong.  His  name 
was  then  stricken  from  the  roll  of  synod;  he  lost  &lso,  in 
1763,  his  position  as  pastor  of  the  York  church.  After  the 
act  of  dedication  at  York,  Wrangel  took  occasion  to  extend 
his  tour  to  Carlisle,  thence  to  Quitopohilla  (Steitstown,  later 
Lebanon),  and  Swatara  Cave  (Atolheo,  Rehrersburg),  and, 
returning,  to  preach  at  Tulpehoken  and  at  Molatton.  In  the 
following  month  the  congregational  constitution  was  adopted 
at  Philadelphia.  Oct.  22d,  Muhlenberg  received  an  invitation 
to  preach  in  the  Episcopal  St.  Paul's  Church,  whose  pastor, 
William  Macclenachan,  already  known  to  us,  was  then  sick. 
In  consequence  of  his  methodistic  proclivities  he  had  moved 
a  portion  of  Christ  Church  to  separate  from  the  mother-con- 
gregation and  to  build  St.  Paul's,  in  Third  street  south  of 
Walnut.  Muhlenberg  laid  the  invitation  before  the  vestry 
of  St.  Michael's,  and  it  was  politely  and  wisely  declined. 

On  Dec.  18,  1765,  Muhlenberg  was  visited  by  the  Rev. 
John  Geo.  Eager,  who  was  born  March  29,  1725,  at  Nieder- 
linxweiler,  in  Nassau-Saarbrucken,  had  prepared  himself  for 
the  sacred  office  at  Halle  University,  and  after  doing  some 
pastoral  service  in  Germany  had  arrived  at  Philadelphia  (Oct. 
23,  1752)  and  settled  at  Conewago  (sometimes  identified  with 
McAllistertown,  later  Hanover,  York  county,  Pa.).  In  that 
region  Rev.  David  Candler,  as  we  formerly  learned,  had 
settled  in  1743,  and  begun — first  in  his  house,  then  in  a  log 
church  erected  next  to  it — pastoral  work  and  the  organization 

25 


386  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

of  a  Lutheran  congregation,  but  had  died  in  the  year  1744. 
After  his  decease  the  Moravian  Nyberg  tried  to  creep  in  there 
as  a  pseudo-Lutheran,  but  met  with  opposition.  In  1747, 
Muhlenberg  found  the  Lutherans  there  in  complete  disorder. 
Val.  Kraft,  having  succeeded  Nyberg  in  that  locality,  was  not 
calculated  to  improve  the  condition.  In  his  presence  Hand- 
schuh  preached  there  (June  2,  1748);  he  also  made  arrange- 
ments that  Schaum,  whom  May  3<Dth  of  the  same  year  he 
installed  at  York,  should  preach  there  every  fourth  Sunday, 
wherein  Schaum  appears  to  have  continued  until  1752,  when 
Eager,  who  first  had  settled  at  Quitopohilla,  was  (Dec.  i6th) 
elected  pastor,  and,  March  10,  1753,  entered  upon  that  field 
of  labor.  He  continued  serving  there  until  the  arrival  of 
Raus,  at  the  same  time  serving  at  York  those  Lutherans  who 
there  were  still  attached  to  Schaum,  until,  in  1763,  he  followed 
a  call  to  the  German  Lutheran  congregation  at  New  York, 
where  during  his  term  the  erection  of  Christ  Church  (Old 
Swamp  Church)  was  commenced.  In  1767  he  accepted  a  call 
to  York,  and  two  years  later  returned  to  his  first  field  of  labor 
in  this  country,  which  during  his  absence  had  been  served  by 
Rev.  Chas.  Fred.  Wildbahn,  who,  licensed  in  1762,  resided  in 
that  region  until  in  1782  he  was  called  to  Reading.  Eager, 
who  also  was  a  member  of  the  ministerium,  served  a  number 
of  neighboring  churches,  and  (1777-85)  again  that  at  Han- 
over. He  departed  this  life  June  9,  1791. 

Miihlenberg's  frequent  absences  from  his  Philadelphia  pulpit 
evoked  some  murmurings.  On  Sunday,  April  17,  1763,  he 
preached  in  the  morning  at  Barren  Hill,  and  in  the  afternoon, 
for  the  first  time  after  ten  years  in  consequence  of  the  decree 
of  the  civil  court  in  behalf  of  the  original  Lutheran  congre- 
gation, and  as  praeses  of  synod  again  opened  services  in  the 
Lutheran  church  at  Germantown.  On  the  following  Sunday 
morning  (Apr.  24th)  he  again  preached  there  before  a  very 
large  audience;  and  when,  in  the  afternoon,  he  found  St. 
Michael's  Church  at  Philadelphia  crowded,  he  took  occasion 
before  preaching  to  refer  to  the  murmurings  by  narrating  to 
the  assembly  the  story  of  the  man  who  on  his  way  to  Jericho 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  387 

had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  thieves  and  then  into  those  of 
the  Samaritan.  There  was  in  this  an  irony  which  very  well 
suited  the  man  who  had  absented  himself  from  home,  not  to 
seek  his  own  comfort,  but  to  do  the  work  of  the  King,  which 
at  that  time  especially  demanded  haste. 

When,  in  June,  1763,  Miihlenberg  paid  visits  to  his 
country  congregations,  still  under  his  supervision,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Reading  and  Tulpehoken.  In  this  latter  place  he 
had  to  quiet  the  minds  of  the  people,  dissatisfied  with  the 
protracted  absence  of  their  pastor,  J.  N.  Kurtz,  at  German- 
town.  It  was  resolved  that  J.  N.  Kurtz  should  not  be  allowed 
to  resign,  but  should  at  the  usual  times  come  and  celebrate 
the  Lord's  Supper ;  that  his  brother  William  should  attend 
to  the  ordinary  Sunday  services  and  casitalia;  and  that  the 
united  pastors  not  living  at  too  great  a  distance  should  from 
time  to  time  visit  there.  During  such  excursions  into  the 
country  Miihlenberg  made  it  a  point  to  pay  special  attention 
to  families  and  to  individuals  who  had  shown  their  fidelity  to 
the  Church  and  derived  in  sickness  or  other  distress  comfort 
from  his  visits,  exhortations,  and  prayers. 

In  August  of  the  same  year  he  visited  the  Lutherans  at 
Cohansey,  N.  J.  When  he  preached  there  (Aug.  6th),  people 
came  from  a  distance  of  ten  and  fifteen  miles.  He  also  held 
the  Lord's  Supper  on  Sunday,  Aug.  7th ;  but  before  this  sol- 
emn act  he  had  to  baptize  no  less  than  twenty-two  little  chil- 
dren whom  parents  and  friends  had  brought  in  that  destitute 
region  from  far  and  near,  and  who  now  in  that  overcrowded 
church  annoyingly  cried  at  the  top  of  their  voices.  On  the 
1 9th  of  the  same  month  he  left  Philadelphia  for  Providence, 
preached  there  Sunday,  the  2ist,  in  German  and  in  English, 
and  celebrated  the  Lord's  Supper.  Mrs.  Miihlenberg,  who 
had  accompanied  him,  left  Monday,  the  22d,  on  horseback 
for  Philadelphia;  he,  with  CatechistVan  Buskirk,  went  to  New 
Hanover,  preached  there  on  Tuesday  to  a  large  assembly,  and 
started  the  following  day  for  Reading,  where  he  had  to  listen 
to  much  complaint  on  account  of  Hausihl's  intended  depart- 
ure for  Easton.  Miihlenberg  pitied  the  people,  who,  though 


388  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

beginners,  had  liberally  erected  a  church  and  a  school-house, 
sustained  pastor  and  teacher,  built  an  expensive  wall  around 
the  cemetery,  and  now  wanted  him  to  come  to  them  and  after 
twenty-one  years  of  hard  labor  to  stay  among  them  and  devote 
himself  to  the  supervision  of  his  family.  His  mother-in-law 
and  other  relatives  were  settled  at  Reading.  Aug.  2/th  he 
rode  on  horseback  twenty  miles  to  Tulpehoken,  preached 
there  Sunday,  the  28th;  rode  in  the  afternoon,  returning, 
seven  miles  to  Heidelberg,  held  services  there;  and  in  the 
evening  came  again  to  Reading.  Here  the  vestry  handed 
him  a  petition  to  the  Fathers  in  Europe  to  send  them  a  pas- 
tor. Sept.  2d  he  returned  to  Philadelphia.  Oct.  1 2th  we  find 
him  again  at  New  Hanover,  where  he  and  J.  N.  Kurtz,  his 
fellow-traveller,  met  Wrangel  and  Hegeblad.  In  agreement 
with  the  desires  of  tlue  congregation,  Van  Buskirk  was  then 
and  there .  ordained  a  diaconus,  or  assistant  pastor. 

Oct.  i/th-ipth  of  that  same  year  (1763),  synod  met  .in 
Philadelphia,  where  Philadelphia,  Germantown,  Barren  Hill, 
Lancaster,  York,  Fredericktown  (in  Md.),  Providence,  New 
Hanover,  Reading,  Tulpehoken,  New  Germantown  and  Bed- 
minster  (N.  J.),  New  York  (German  and  Dutch  congrega- 
tions), Hackensack,  Remmerspach,  Wahlkiel  (N.  J.),  Rhine- 
beck,  Camp,  Statesbury,  Claverack  (N.  Y.),  Earltown,  Cone- 
stoga,  Muddy  Creek,  Easton,  Greenwich  (N.  J.),  Macungie, 
Heidelberg,  Jordan,  Indianfield,  Saccum,  Upper  Dublin,  Up- 
per Milford,  Allentown,  Cohansey,  Oley,  and  Whitendahl, 
were  acknowledged  as  belonging  to  the  united  congrega- 
tions. Letters  and  petitions  came  from  Conewago,  Man- 
chester, Paradise;  also  from  Winchester  (Va.).  Diaconus 
Joseph  Roth,  successor  of  Raus  in  Old  Goshenhoppen  and 
vicinity,  was  serving  in  an  acceptable  manner  at  Indianfield, 
Saccum,  and  Upper  Milford,  but  died  in  May,  1764.  J.  C. 
Stoever  also,  whose  former  associate,  Tobias  Wagner,  had  in 
I759>  with  his  wife  and  one  daughter,  returned  to  Germany, 
was  at  that  synodical  meeting  received  into  the  ministerium. 
Whitefield  also,  who  then  visited  Philadelphia,  was  invited 
by  a  committee  of  synod  (Oct.  i8th)  to  be  present  at  the 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  389 

public  examination  of  the  children  of  the  parochial  school 
in  St.  Michael's.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and,  though  in 
very  feeble  health,  ascended  the  pulpit,  prayed,  and  addressed 
the  children,  and  gave  also  to  the  parents  words  of  admoni- 
tion. A  number  of  Episcopal  and  Presbyterian  clergymen 
were  present,  and  the  church  was  crowded  with  English  and 
with  German  people.  Wrangel  and  Muhlenberg  examined 
the  children. 


39O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

1762  et  seq.  (continued}. 

Pietism  and  Methodism. — Lutheranism  and  Episcopalianism. — Progress  of  the 
Philadelphia  congregation. — Miihlenberg  on  confirmation. — Relation  to  pol- 
itics.— He  sends  his  three  sons  to  Halle. — Handschuh's  death. — German 
Benevolent  Society  of  Pennsylvania. — Erection  of  Zion  Church,  Philadelphia. 
— Flourishing  condition  of  the  congregation. — Arrival  of  Chr.  Em.  Schulze. 
— He  is  MUhlenberg's  colaborer  in  Philadelphia. — He  follows  a  call  to  Tul- 
pehoken. — Career  of  Krug,  Voigt,  Schmidt,  Helmuth. — Struggle  in  later  years 
between  English  and  German  in  Philadelphia. — Organization  of  an  English 
Lutheran  congregation. 

IN  our  times  we  think  it  strange  that  Whitefield,  as  we  nar- 
rated, was  invited  to  participate  in  the  services  and  the 
exercises  of  the  Lutheran  congregation.  We  find  it  stranger 
yet  that  when,  in  1769,  the  large  Zion  Church,  built  by  the 
same  Lutheran  congregation  in  addition  to  St.  Michael's,  was 
in  a  condition  to  be  used  for  public  services,  Whitefield  was 
invited  to  preach  in  it,  and  that  when  among  the  Episcopalians 
at  Philadelphia  a  vacancy  occurred  Miihlenberg  was  invited 
to  fill  it  and  to  preach  to  them.  We  add  that  he  was  also 
invited  to  hold  public  examination  of  the  parochial  school  at 
the  German  Reformed  church  at  Philadelphia,  and  in  conse- 
quence of  a  special  request  delivered  the  funeral  address  on 
the  occasion  of  the  decease  of  the  German  Reformed  pastor, 
Rev.  Steiner.  The  great  fame  of  Whitefield  as  a  most  em- 
inently-gifted Christian  preacher  placed  him,  to  an  extent,  in 
an  exceptional  position.  He  had  in  later  years  considerably 
modified  his  course  of  action  and  his  manner  of  preaching, 
It  had  formerly  been  his  habit  to  censure  in  severe  language 
the  clergy  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  to  which  he  himself  be- 
longed, and  to  take  a  position  antagonistic  to  them.  When,  in 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  391 

1763,  he  reappeared  in  Philadelphia,  |(hd  also  at  later  visits,  he 
made  it  a  point  to  entertain  friendly  relations  with  Rev.  Peters, 
who  had  become  rector  of  Christ  Church,  and  with  his  col- 
leagues, and  used  in  his  sermons  much  more  moderate  lan- 
guage. We  have  to  keep  in  mind  that  in  small  towns,  as 
Philadelphia  was  in  those  years,  the  pastors  of  the  various 
denominations  had  occasion  to  come  more  frequently  into 
personal  contact  with  one  another.  It  also  was  a  view  rather 
common  in  those  days  that  the  doctrinal  distinctions  between 
the  Episcopal  and  the  Lutheran  churches  were  of  no  great 
account,  and  the  Episcopal  Church  was  frequently  called  by 
Lutheran  theologians  Ecclesia  Lutlieranizans.  Miihlenberg's 
Pietism  also,  as  he  had  inherited  it  from  Halle,  brought  him 
into  a  certain  affinity  with  all  those  in  whom  he  noticed  the 
symptoms  of  a  living,  personal  spirituality,  and  he  had  there- 
fore warm  friends  not  only  among  Episcopalians — who  were 
to  an  extent  electrified  by  a  man  of  the  power  of  Whitefield — 
but  also  among  the  Presbyterians  who  were  similarly  affected, 
like  the  two  brothers,  Rev.  Messrs.  G.  and  W.  Tennent.  In 
his  intercourse  with  such  men  Miihlenberg  found  some  spirit- 
ual refreshment  and  encouragement,  and  the  doctrines  which 
formed  a  high  and  strong  barrier  between  their  respective 
church  bodies  were  left  in  the  background.  But  Miihlen- 
berg and  his  colaborers,  all  under  the  control  of  the  same 
Pietism,  never  entertained  the  idea  of  a  union  of  the  various 
denominations ;  and  whenever,  as  was  the  case  especially  on 
the  part  of  the  Episcopalians,  approaches  were  made  in  this  di- 
rection, they  were  never  encouraged.  Yet  the  presumed  affin- 
ity between  the  Episcopal  and  the  Lutheran  churches  in  later 
years  proved  disastrous  not  only  to  the  Swedish  churches  in 
Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  and  Delaware,  but  also  to  Lutheran 
congregations  in  New  York.  Muhlenberg,  while  he  certainly 
preferred  the  fervor  of  Whitefield  to  the  perfunctory  manner 
in  which  numbers  of  the  clergy  of  divers  denominations  here 
and  there  performed  the  duties  of  their  offices,  was  far  from 
consenting,  without  considerable  restriction,  to  all  the  ways 
and  views  of  Whitefield.  He  acknowledged  his  ardor  and  his 


392  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

wonderful  influence  over  $  large  number  of  souls,  who  through 
him  were  awakened  from  a  condition  of  indifference  and  spirit- 
ual death  and  brought  to  Christ.  He  rejoiced  in  the  results 
of  a  powerful  preaching  of  evangelical  truth,  whoever  might 
be  the  preacher  or  the  part  of  Christ's  kingdom  to  which  he 
might  belong,  just  as  he  rejoiced,  and  with  him  his  brethren 
in  the  sacred  office,  when  members  of  their  flocks  would 
from  time  to  time  privately  meet  in  an  unostentatious  way, 
unitedly  read  the  word  of  God,  and  pray  and  sing.  Such  "  con- 
venticles" manifested  their  interest  in  sacred  truth,  and  could, 
if  ever  an  excuse  was  needed  in  those  times  when  in  many 
places  regular  public  services  were  of  comparatively  rare 
occurrence,  easily  be  excused.  To  identify  them  with  the 
well-known  methodistic  prayer-meetings  would  be  a  great 
perversion  of  historical  facts,  and  the  old  Latin  saying,  Si  duo 
faciunt  idem,  non  est  idem,  holds  good  in  this  case.  There 
still  existed  between  1780  and  1790  an  association  in  the  Lu- 
theran congregation  at  Philadelphia,  the  members  of  which 
met  from  time  to  time  to  discuss  the  Articles  of  the  Augsburg 
Confession.  When  we  read  in  the  Halle  Reports  of  "  prayer- 
meetings  "  which  Miihlenberg  and  his  associates  themselves 
held  in  their  respective  congregations,  we  must  keep  in  mind 
that  in  those  services  singing  of  church-hymns,  reading  of  the 
Scriptures,  a  practical  exegesis  of  the  portion  read,  and  prayers 
by  the  officiating  minister  took  place.  No  one  could  be  more 
opposed  to  a  loose,  haphazard  way  of  holding  public  services 
than  was  Miihlenberg.  Those  applicants  for  the  ministerial 
office  to  whom  congregations  were  to  be  entrusted  had  to  prom- 
ise a  strict  adherence  not  only  to  the  doctrines  of  the  Lutheran 
Church,  but  also  to  the  liturgical  form  of  worship  adopted  by 
synod.  The  looseness  of  a  subsequent  period  in  these  questions 
of  doctrine  and  forms  of  worship  was  totally  antagonistic  to  the 
principles  maintained  by  Miihlenberg.  He  could  not  but 
admire  the  talent  and  the  spiritual  gifts  of  Whitefield,  but 
unhesitatingly  states  that  he  was  shocked  by  his  denial  of 
regenerating  grace  in  baptism.  Pietistic  liberalism  allowed 
.him  to  use  more  freedom  in  practical  interdenominational 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  393 

relations  than  appears  compatible  with  his  strict  Lutheran 
convictions,  but  the  question  arises  whether,  without  that 
Pietistic  element  in  his  spiritual  framework,  he  would  have 
been  that  warm-hearted,  self-denying,  energetic,  and  humble 
servant  in  the  cause  of  the  Master.  Pietism  was  indeed  the 
form  under  which  in  those  years  warm-hearted  godliness 
almost  exclusively  existed  in  Germany.  Those  who  were 
animated  by  it  knew  its  strong  points  by  experience,  and, 
as  may  be  expected,  were  rather  shortsighted  as  to  its  weak 
ones.  It  was  the  living  source  from  which  then  proceeded 
most  works  of  Christian  charity,  missionary  enterprises,  care  of 
the  orphans,  the  spreading  of  the  Bible  among  the  masses  of 
the  people,  and  instruction  of  the  neglected.  To  this  school, 
if  we  may  so  call  it,  Miihlenberg  belonged.  He  could  not 
absolutely  escape  the  influence  of  its  weaker  points ;  its  strong 
ones  never  found  a  worthier  or  a  more  energetic  and  success- 
ful representative. 

The  presence  of  Miihlenberg  in  the  Philadelphia  congrega- 
tion proved  more  and  more  a  blessing.  After  the  adoption  of 
the  new  constitution,  the  church,  as  to  its  outward  adminis- 
tration, was  on  a  solid  basis.  The  spirit  which  in  1753  had 
produced  a  rebellion  in  the  neighboring  Germantown  had  to 
a  large  extent  died  out.  The  rehabilitation  of  genuine  Lu- 
theranism  in  that  locality  in  1763  could  not  but  have  a  bene- 
ficial effect  upon  Philadelphia  and  upon  other  places.  Miihl- 
enberg had  all  right-minded  people  on  his  side.  His  judi- 
ciousness fully  secured  to  him  the  respect  also  of  those  who, 
led  on  by  Handschuh,  had  opposed  the  framing  and  adoption 
of  a  new  congregational  constitution.  Of  personal  enmities 
or  of  insults  offered  him  by  evil-disposed  and  foolish  people 
he  made  no  account,  and  comforted  one  who  complained  to 
him  about  a  pasquinade  nailed  on  his  house  by  telling  him 
that  he  had  frequently  been  the  recipient  of  such  honors.  His 
ready  judgment  and  his  presence  of  mind  in  all  contingencies 
could  not  but  gain  him  universal  respect.  It  was  Sunday,  Oct. 
30,  1763,  when,  during  the  afternoon  services,  a  serious  shock 
of  earthquake  made  St.  Michael's,  which  was  crowded  with 


394  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

worshippers,  tremble,  the  rumbling  noise  connected  with  it 
and  resembling  the  quick  rolling  of  heavily-laden  wagons, 
producing  great  consternation.  The  people,  frightened  by  the 
unusual  phenomenon,  rushed  toward  the  doors.  By  remind- 
ing them  that  out  of  doors  they  might  fall  into  God's  hands 
no  less  than  within,  Miihlenberg  at  once  restored  order,  and 
resumed  the  Lord's  Prayer,  in  which  he  had  been  engaged. 
His  various  attainments  and  accomplishments  were  acknow- 
ledged as  occasion  was  given.  When,  in  1763,  a  new  organ 
was  furnished  St.  Peter's  Episcopal  Church,  in  the  south- 
ern part  of  Philadelphia,  he  was  requested  to  give  it  a  trial. 
When,  in  1764,  at  the  Philadelphia  Academy,  a  cursus  physico- 
experimentalis  was  opened,  he  was  invited  to  attend  the  lec- 
tures. To  Germany  in  the  interest  of  science  he  sent  collec- 
tions of  natural  curiosities  from  America.  He  took  occasion, 
in  a  letter  written  in  Latin,  to  point  out  to  a  Danish  officer  of 
high  standing,  who  had  addressed  him  in  a  humoristic  manner 
from  the  island  of  St.  Croix,  the  marked  distinction  between 
coarse  and  vulgar  wit  and  humor  and  the  refined  Attic. 
Of  his  kind-heartedness  and  charitable  inclinations  we  have 
already  given  many  and  forcible  examples.  We  add  that  in 
one  of  his  most  private  papers  we  discover  that  to  the  son 
of  .a  teacher  of  languages  at  the  University  of  Jena,  who  had 
for  a  time  lived  as  a  captive  among  the  Indians,  he  presented 
at  once  a  coat,  a  "  camisole,"  and  a  shirt.  What  Mrs.  Miihl- 
enberg said  to  these  and  similar  acts  we  do  not  know,  but  we 
are  sure  that  she  could  have  added  numbers  of  such  instances. 
At  her  request  he  began  in  February,  1764,  to  write  his  auto- 
biography. Whether  that  description  of  his  life  which  leads 
us  up  to  the  beginning  of  his  activity  in  Pennsylvania,  and  is 
given  to  the  public  by  Rev.  Dr.  William  Germann,  now  super- 
intendent of  the  diocese  of  Wasungen,  Sachsen-Meiningen, 
through  Messrs.  Brobst,  Diehl  &  Co.  at  Allentown,  Pa.  (1881), 
is  a  part  of  that  autobiography,  or  all  that  he  ever  finished  of 
it,  we  are  unable  to  say.  As  a  pastor  who  did  not  neglect 
the  cum  specialis  he  took,  in  the  year  1764,  much  interest 
in  a  criminal  who,  as  a  murderer,  was  condemned  to  capital 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  395 

punishment,  and  whom  he  carefully  prepared  for  his  terrible 
end.  We  also  find  that  the  question  of  the  rite  of  confirma- 
tion seriously  engaged  the  mind  of  Miihlenberg.  Elaborately 
he  takes  up  in  his  diary  of  June  24,  1764,  all  those  objections 
which  then  already  from  various  quarters  were  raised  against 
confirmation,  and  which  he  had  discussed  in  an  address  before 
the  congregation,  taking  as  his  text  Rom.  ix.  4.  He  refers  to 
the  fact  that  what  is  given  to  children  in  holy  baptism  by 
divine  grace  is  in  most  cases,  under  various  co-operating 
causes,  not  developed  into  personal  appropriation,  but  rather 
lost.  "  Some  object/'  he  says,  "  to  our  Lutheran  way  of  try- 
ing to  influence  the  mind  in  early  years,  and  think  we  had 
better  wait  until  an  impulse  from  within  makes  itself  felt." 
Miihlenberg  energetically  rejects  this  view,  and  says  that 
while  waiting  for  a  spontaneous  movement  souls  might  grow 
cold,  and  even  die.  Young  persons  in  the  second  septen- 
ary of  their  life  he  finds  already  exposed  to  many  evil  influ- 
ences and  great  dangers,  yet  in  a  condition  to  receive  good 
impressions  and  to  be  approached  and  placed  under  the  influ- 
ences of  the  Holy  Spirit.  To  the  objection  that  persons  of 
that  age  are  superficial  and  giddy  and  wanting  in  proper  judg- 
ment, he  answers  that  at  no  time  and  in  no  condition  the  nat- 
ural man  "  receiveth  the  things  of  the  Spirit  of  God,"  but  that 
God  has  given  us  the  means  of  grace  to  operate  through  them 
upon  the  natural  man,  and  that  the  sooner  this  is  done  the  bet- 
ter, since  young  trees  may  be  bent  much  easier  than  old  ones. 
He  appeals  to  the  testimony  of  the  adult  and  the  aged  to 
prove  that  those  words  and  truths  of  the  Scriptures  which  in 
youngest  years  have  been  properly  implanted  are  most  firmly 
fixed  in  the  mind  and  form  a  basis  for  the  instruction  of 
catechumens.  It  was  true,  as  some  objected,  that  very  fre- 
quently the  good  impressions  received  in  earlier  years  are 
soon  effaced  and  the  good  promises  forgotten,  and  that  sin  and 
guilt  thereby  are  increased.  Admitting  the  fact,  he  says  that 
the  cause  of  this  deplorable  condition  is  very  often  persons 
who,  indifferent  about  their  own  souls,  wantonly  destroy  what 
others  have  planted;  but  this  certainly  does  not  prove  that 


396  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF  ^ 

no  spiritual  care  should  be  taken  of  the  souls  of  the  young, 
neither  that  all  the  good  received  by  them  is  lost. 

Throughout  all  the  voluminous  diaries  and  the  extensive 
correspondence  which  Miihlenberg  left  to  posterity  it  cannot 
escape  our  observation  that  he  was  exceedingly  careful  as  to 
remarks  referring  to  the  politics  of  the  times  and  the  land  and 
the  province  in  which  he  lived.  The  period  from  1763  to  1766, 
and  much  more  that  from  1770  to  the  end  of  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence, was  one  of  great  political  excitement  in  all  the 
North  American  provinces,  and  especially  in  Pennsylvania. 
The  outrages  committed  in  1763  by  the  Indians  in  the  inte- 
rior of  the  province  had  provoked  a  very  excusable  hatred. 
The  Quakers,  still  exercising,  with  their  sympathizers  in  peace 
principles,  a  considerable  influence  in  provincial  politics,  con- 
tinued to  oppose  military  measures.  Of  the  want  of  ener- 
getic action  caused  by  that  influence  the  Indians  made  ter- 
rible use.  In  giving  vent  to  revengeful  feelings  a  number  of 
men  from  Lancaster — known  as  the  "  Paxtang  Rangers  " — 
murdered  (Dec.  13,  1763)  some  Indians  at  Conestoga,  and 
others  (Dec.  27th)  in  the  workhouse  at  Lancaster.  These 
acts  were  undeniably  riotous.  The  government  was  help- 
less against  the  bloodthirsty  Rangers.  They,  knowing  that 
already  in  November,  1763,  a  number  of  Indians  coming 
from  Moravian  mission-stations  in  Pennsylvania  had  been 
sheltered  in  Philadelphia,  and  suspecting  that  many  of 
them  were  such  as  had  committed  murder  and  outrages 
of  all  sorts,  in  the  beginning  of  February,  1764,  moved 
toward  Philadelphia  and  menaced  the  city,  to  the  utmost 
terror  of  the  inhabitants.  In  those  dark  days,  even,  some 
few  Quakers,  under  the  pressure  of  circumstances,  were,  to 
the  great  delight  of  the  juveniles  in  Philadelphia,  seen 
marching  about  with  sword  and  gun.  The  worst  was  hap- 
pily avoided,  and  peace  was  restored.  The  object  of  the 
march  to  Philadelphia  was,  however,  of  much  wider  scope 
than  to  take  revenge  on  the  Indians.  A  material  change  in 
the  government,  which  had  been  in  the  hands  of  a  com- 
paratively few  influential  men,  chiefly  Quakers,  was  desired, 


HENRY  MELCHIOR   MUHLENBERG.  397 

and  a  larger  representation  of  the  people  in  the  Assembly  was 
demanded.  This  desire  was  supported  by  the  injudicious 
manner  of  dealing  with  the  Indians  pursued  by  the  govern- 
ment. All  the  questions  involved  in  this  difficulty  were  acri- 
moniously discussed  on  both  sides  in  a  flood  of  pamphlets. 
Military  measures  taken  in  1764  at  last  struck  terror  into  the 
Indians  in  Pennsylvania.  When,  in  the  autumn  of  this  year, 
efforts  were  made  to  reduce  the  Quaker  element  in  the  As- 
sembly, and  to  elect  men  who  in  questions  of  war  or  of  peace 
would  not  neglect  the  first  duty  of  every  government — to  de- 
fend its  subjects  against  hostile  attacks — the  members  of  the 
German  Lutheran  Church  at  Philadelphia  also  took  a  lively 
interest  in  this  movement,  the  more  so  as  Henry  Keppele,  one 
of  their  number  and  treasurer  of  the  congregation,  was  pro- 
posed as  a  member  of  the  Assembly,  with  a  fellow-delegate, 
to  represent  the  city  of  Philadelphia  in  that  body.  It  seems 
that  in  this  election  Miihlenberg  was  not  permitted  to  exercise 
a  "  masterly  inactivity  "  or  to  remain  neutral.  He  writes  under 
Oct.  2d  :  "  They  invited  me  to  the  city-hall  that  I  might  depos- 
it my  vote,  since  the  other  clergymen  had  handed  in  theirs. 
I  went  there,  but  returned."  He  probably  found  too  great  a 
throng  of  people  and  no  chance  to  vote.  He  continues  :  "  In 
the  evening  I  was  again  called  from  home  to  give  my  vote  as 
a  citizen  in  favor  of  two  nominees  of  the  city  for  the  Assem- 
bly. There  was,  however,  such  a  crowd  that  only  as  late  as 
after  ten  o'clock  could  I  deposit  my  vote."  Under  date  of  Oct. 
3d  he  says :  "  There  was  this  day  both  great  rejoicing  and 
great  exasperation  in  this  city  in*the  political  sphere,  since  it 
was  reported  that  the  German  church  people  had  gained  a 
victory,  having  elected  our  trustee,  Mr.  Henry  Keppele,  to  the 
Assembly — a  thing  which  very  much  pleased  the  friends  of 
the  gentlemen  Proprietors,  but  greatly  exasperated  the  Qua- 
kers and  German  Moravians.  It  is  reported  that,  as  old  as 
Pennsylvania  is,  there  was  never  such  a  mass  of  people  assem- 
bled at  an  election.  The  English  and  German  Quakers,  with 
the  Moravians,  Mennonites,  Schwenkfelders,  formed  one  party, 
and  the  English  of  the  High  Church  [Episcopalians],  the  Pres- 


398  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

byterians,  the  German  Lutherans,  and  Reformed  joined  the 
other  party,  and  prevailed  in  the  election — a  thing  hereto- 
fore unheard  of."  This  is  one  of  the  few  passages  found  in 
Miihlenberg's  diaries  alluding  to  political  life  and  struggles. 
About  the  dissatisfaction  arising  in  Pennsylvania  on  account 
of  the  unwillingness  of  the  Proprietaries  to  share  in  the  bur- 
den of  taxes  laid  upon  all  real  estate,  and  about  the  much 
more  consequential  dissatisfaction  directed  against  the  Stamp 
Act  passed  by  the  home  government  in  1764,  and  calling  forth 
throughout  the  American  provinces  the  cry,  "  No  representa- 
tion, no  taxation !" — a  principle  on  which,  finally,  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  rested — Miihlenberg  apparently  enter- 
tains an  intentional  silence.  When,  after  the  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act  (1766),  a  day  of  thanksgiving  was  celebrated  in 
many  localities,  especially  in  Philadelphia,  Miihlenberg  had 
the  sermon  preached  by  him  on  the  occasion  published  with 
the  title,  A  testimony  of  the  goodness  and  the  zeal  of  God  toward 
his  covenant  people  in  the  old  and  new  times,  and  of  the  ingrat- 
itude of  his  people  toward  him,  given  at  the  occasion  of  the 
thanksgiving  in  consequence  of  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act, 
Aug.  1,  1766,  by  the  Rev.  H.  Miihlenberg.  Philadelphia: 
H.  Miller.  Unfortunately,  no  copy  of  this  pamphlet  could 
be  discovered  by  us.  Here  and  there  the  political  events 
give  Miihlenberg  occasion  to  make  remarks  of  a  religious 
character  and  to  acknowledge  the  hand  of  a  guiding  or  a 
chastising  Providence,  but  he  is  careful  not  to  identify  him- 
self with  political  party  views.  May  we  in  the  decided  posi- 
tion taken  by  his  sons  see*a  clue  to  the  feelings  and  the  con- 
victions of  the  father  ?  These  sons  were,  however,  destined — 
at  least,  for  a  time — to  be  his  colaborers  in  the  work  of  the 
Church.  One  of  them  followed  that  calling  throughout  his 
life ;  the  two  others,  under  the  influence  of  the  stirring  times 
in  which  they  lived,  were  irresistibly  drawn  into  the  political 
arena,  and  both  of  them  served  their  country  with  much 
honor  to  themselves  and  to  the  family — one  in  the  military, 
the  other  in  the  administrative  department. 

In  the  private  documents  left  by  Miihlenberg  we  often  meet 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  399 

with  expressions  of  sorrow  and  pain  that  under  the  never-end- 
ing pressure  of  official  duties  and  in  consequence  of  his  fre- 
quent absences  from  home  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  pay 
to  his  family  and  children  that  attention  which  under  other 
conditions  he  most  willingly  would  have  given  them.  This 
he  felt  as  a  most  serious  matter,  especially  concerning  his 
sons.  When,  in  1761,  he  had  moved  to  Philadelphia,  better 
facilities  of  higher  instruction  were  offered.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  moral  and  social  dangers  were  increased,  and  with 
the  increase  of  the  demands  now  made  upon  the  father's  time 
and  strength  his  ability  properly  to  attend  to  the  education 
of  his  sons  proportionally  decreased.  He  himself  had  received 
his  education  in  Germany,  the  land  of  his  birth.  He  was  con- 
vinced that  the  opportunities  offered  there  he  could  in  his  time 
neither  find  nor  expect  here.  He  entertained  a  very  exalted 
view  of  the  institutions  at  Halle,  the  directors  of  which,  the 
"  Fathers,"  he  held  in  the  highest  esteem,  while  he  was  con- 
vinced that  the  organization  of  those  institutions  of  learn- 
ing, the  discipline  firmly  executed  in  them,  the  religious  spirit 
permeating  them,  the  educational  and  scientific  opportunities 
afforded  there,  could  not  but  prove  in  the  highest  degree  advan- 
tageous. When  teaching  there  in  his  younger  years  he  had 
derived  great  and  lasting  benefits,  and  it  was  most  natural 
that  he  desired  his  children  to  share  in  the  same  blessings. 

To  his  inquiries  in  Halle,  where  he  was  kept  in  loving  re- 
membrance, and  his  career  and  successful  activity  in  the -dis- 
tant land  found  a  well-deserved  acknowledgment,  the  most 
encouraging  answer  was  given,  and  to  his  children  the  most 
favorable  conditions  were  granted.  That  the  resolution  to 
send  away  three  sons,  all  of  them  being  in  tender  years,  at 
the  same  time  from  the  parental  home  to  a  distant  land  be- 
yond the  ocean  could  not  be  taken  without  the  severest  strug- 
gle with  natural  feelings  and  inclinations,  needs  not  to  be  told. 
It  was  based  upon  the  consideration  that  to  promote  the  best 
interests  of  the  children  no  sacrifice  could  be  too  great  for  the 
parents. 

Wednesday,  Apr.  27,  1763,  was  the  day  appointed  for  their 


400  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

departure.  The  oldest,  John  Peter  Gabriel,  was  then  in  his 
fifteenth  year ;  the  youngest,  Gotthilf  Heinrich  Ernest,  in  his 
tenth  year ;  the  middle  one,  Frederick  August  Conrad,  in  his 
thirteenth  year.  In  a  special  visit  on  Apr.  2 1st  the  father  had 
commended  those  three  brothers,  who  were  to  embark  on  a 
voyage  of  nearly  four  thousand  miles  to  a  country  strange  to 
them,  to  one  of  the  foremost  men  of  the  province  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, Hon.  William  Allen,  son  of  a  Philadelphia  merchant — 
in  1741  recorder  of  his  native  city,  and  later  chief-justice  of 
the  province — who,  being  decidedly  adverse  to  the  revolution- 
ary movement,  left  for  England  before  the  outbreak  of  the 
war,  and  died  at  London  in  1780.  He  received  Miihlenberg 
most  kindly,  and  cheered  the  father's  heart  by  promising  to 
keep  a  watchful  eye  on  the  three  boys.  Miihlenberg  also 
visited  the  ship  in  which  they  were  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  and 
spoke  to  Captain  Budden  in  their  behalf.  He  also  furnished 
his  sons  with  letters  of  introduction  to  friends  at  London  and 
at  Eimbeck,  and  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Francke  and  other  acquaint- 
ances in  Halle.  Provost  Wrangel  also  furnished  letters  of 
recommendation  to  his  correspondents  at  London,  Messrs. 
Andrew  and  Charles  Lindegren,  merchants.  From  London 
the  young  brothers  were  to  be  forwarded  to  Hamburg,  and 
were  thence  to  proceed,  by  the  way  of  Eimbeck,  to  Halle ;  all 
of  which  programme  was  successfully  carried  out  under  the 
guidance  and  the  protection  of  a  kind  Providence.  On  the 
appointed  day  Miihlenberg  and  his  wife  and  children  solemnly 
took  farewell  of  the  sons  and  the  brothers.  He  sent  up  a  fer- 
vent prayer  in  their  behalf  to  the  throne  of  grace.  Wrangel, 
who,  as  an  intimate  friend  of  the  family,  was  present  on  the 
occasion,  also  addressed  them  and  pronounced  a  benediction 
upon  them.  The  mother  accompanied  the  children  to  the 
ship,  which  left  port  at  four  P.  M.,  and  arrived  safely  at  London 
June  1 5th.  Among  the  passengers  were  two  near  friends  of 
the  family — a  son  of  Mr.  Keppele,  Henry  Keppele,  Jr.,  and 
Mr.  Justus  Frederick  Meyer.  We  can  easily  present  to  our 
minds  the  anxiety  of  the  parents  until  news  came  of  the  safe 
arrival  of  the  boys  at  their  destination. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  40 1 

We  remember  that  just  about  the  time  of  the  departure  of 
his  sons  Muhlenberg's  mind  was  greatly  troubled  by  the 
agitation  going  on  in  the  Philadelphia  congregation.  We 
also  know  that  through  the  personal  influence  and  the  judi- 
cious steps  of  Mlihlenberg  the  question  of  the  constitution  of 
the  same  was  happily  solved.  Tuesday,  Oct.  9,  1764,  Hand- 
schuh,  Muhlenberg's  colleague  in  the  service  in  the  Philadel- 
phia church,  departed  this  life,  after  a  protracted  sickness,  in 
his  fifty-first  year.  He  had  been  a  man  of  many  good  qual- 
ities, and  had  had  his  heart  in  the  sacred  work  entrusted  to 
his  care  ;  but  he  was  too  much  under  the  sway  of  morbid 
feelings,  was  easily  irritated,  was  controlled  by  the  narrowest 
Pietistic  conceits,  was  lacking  in  the  knowledge  of  human 
nature  and  in  judgment,  and — compared  with  the  whole 
intellectual  and  spiritual  frame  of  Miihlenberg — in  all  direc- 
tions was  of  infinitely  smaller  proportions.  Miihlenberg 
treated  him  with  becoming  fraternal  respect  and  kindness, 
attended  him  during  his  sickness,  and  was  with  him  at  mid- 
night when  the  brother  seemed  to  be  near  his  end.  Amid 
Muhlenberg's  prayers  he  fell  asleep  at  six  in  the  morning  of 
Oct  nth.  His  mortal  remains  were  taken  to  their  last  rest- 
ing-place, in  front  of  the  chancel  of  St.  Michael's  Church, 
where  also  those  of  Heintzelmann  and  Brunnholtz  were  de- 
posited. At  a  later  time  tablets  of  marble  were  erected  in  the 
church  in  memory  of  these  three  pastors  and  of  Miihlenberg. 
At  the  funeral  services  of  Handschuh  much  respect  was 
shown  to  the  deceased  and  to  the  congregation  he  had  served. 
The  English  academy  was  represented  by  two  doctors  of  divin- 
ity and  two  professors ;  the  Episcopal  Church,  by  three  pas- 
tors ;  the  Presbyterian  by  two.  The  minister  of  the  Baptist 
congregation  was  present  with  one  missionary  of  the  Swedish 
Church  and  two  of  the  German  Reformed.  Even  Whitefield, 
though  seriously  ailing,  accompanied  the  funeral  in  a  carriage. 
Of  Lutheran  ministers  there  were  present,  in  addition  to  Miihl- 
enberg, Hartwig  and  Voigt.  The  German  address  in  St. 
Michael's  was  delivered  by  Voigt,  Miihlenberg  following  in 
English.  On  the  following  Sunday,  Muhlenberg  took  occa- 

26 


402  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

sion  in  his  sermon  on  I  Cor.  iv.  1,2  to  refer  to  his  departed 
colleague,  whose  mortal  remains  rested  in  front  of  the  pulpit 
on  which  he  stood.  He  also  alluded  to  the  two  others  rest- 
ing there  side  by  side  with  Handschuh,  and  urged  the  con- 
gregation, each  for  himself,  to  ask  what  use  he  had  made  of 
the  services  of  these  servants  of  the  Lord.  We  should  re- 
'member  that  a  short  time  before  the  death  of  Handschuh  the 
plan  of  a  new  constitution  had  greatly  agitated  the  congrega- 
tion. Miihlenberg,  starting  with  the  admonition  of  St.  Paul 
to  the  Corinthians  to  lay  aside  party  strife  and  to  preserve  the 
union  of  the  Spirit,  at  that  solemn  moment  took  occasion  to 
impress  upon  his  hearers  the  necessity  of  mutual  forbearance 
and  good  understanding.  He  also  read  before  the  congrega- 
tion an  elaborate  biographical  sketch  of  the  deceased  brother, 
which  is  preserved  to  us  in  the  twelfth  continuation  of  the 
Halle  Reports. 

Upon  the  death  of  Handschuh  the  whole  pastoral  care  of 
the  congregation  devolved  exclusively  upon  Miihlenberg. 
That  he  should  carry  this. burden  alone  was  not  to  be  ex- 
pected. The  congregation  had  of  late  been  rapidly  increas- 
ing. This  was  due,  among  other  causes,  to  the  swelling  tide 
of  immigration  from  Germany,  which  during  the  political 
struggle  between  England  and  France  before  1760 — in  which 
year  (Sept.  8th)  Montreal,  Detroit,  and  all  Canada  were  sur- 
rendered to  England  by  France — had  been  very  much  re- 
duced, but  was  now  resumed  with  renewed  vigor.  The  ques- 
tion how  to  provide  for  more  extended  accommodations  for 
church-goers  could  no  longer  be  avoided.  Sept.  13,  1763, 
the  vestry  had  resolved  that  as  soon  as  all.  the  debts  resting 
on  St.  Michael's  Church  were  paid  a  new  church-building 
should  be  erected,  both  churches  to  belong  to  one  and  the 
same  congregation.  To  the  graveyard  surrounding  St.  Mi- 
chael's a  contiguous  piece  of  ground  was  also  added.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  vestry  on  Jan.  12,  1764,  it  was  stated  that  St. 
Michael's  gave  hardly  sufficient  room  to  two-thirds  of  the 
members  of  the  congregation,  and  that  it  was* like  "an  over- 
stocked beehive."  No  less  than  three  or  four  hundred  chil- 


HENRY  MELCHIO.R  MUHLENBERG.  403 

dren  had  been  baptized  in  one  year.  The  disposition  of  the 
seats  in  the  pews  of  St.  Michael's  had  become  a  very  trouble- 
some thing.  On  the  same  day  it  was  resolved  that  every 
Sunday  morning  public  services  should  be  held  in  the  church 
and  in  the  school-house.  In  1766  there  were  no  less  than  one 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  catechumens  to  prepare  for  con- 
firmation, and  sometimes  four  hundred  communicants  ap- 
peared at  the  Lord's  Table.  It  was  plain  that  one  minister 
could  not  satisfy  the  necessities  and  demands  of  the  congre- 
gation, and  on  Oct.  22,  1764,  two  weeks  after  the  death  of 
Handschuh,  it  was  resolved  by  the  vestry  to  petition  the 
Fathers  in  Europe  to  send  another  missionary,  who  might 
serve  the  congregation  as  a  colleague  of  Miihlenberg.  One 
of  the  results  of  the  unparalleled  increase  of  immigration  from 
Germany  at  that  time  was  the  formation,  in  1764,  of  the 
"  German  Benevolent  Society  of  Pennsylvania,"  which  held 
its  first  meeting — and  for  years  following  many  others — in 
the  school-house  of  the  Lutheran  congregation,  on  the  day 
after  Christmas,  1764,  Henry  Keppele  being  elected  presi- 
dent: it  received  its  charter  Sept.  20,  1781.  Its  most  import- 
ant object  was  to  counteract  the  frauds  and  barbarities  in  those 
times  habitually  practised  by  shippers  upon  helpless  emigrants, 
and  to  assist  them  at  the  time  of  their  arrival  in  Pennsylvania. 
The  history  of  this  society  from  1764  until  1876  is  given  in  a 
very  interesting  and  exhaustive  manner  in  a  work  by  Prof.  Dr. 
O.  Seidensticker  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  (published 
by  I.  Kohler,  Philadelphia,  1876). 

During  the  year  1764  the  plan  of  enlarging  St.  Michael's 
Church  was  frequently  discussed  inside  and  outside  of  the  vestry 
of  the  Lutheran  congregation  at  Philadelphia.  If  it  had  ever 
been  carried  out,  it  would  have  been  very  unsatisfactory.  We 
might  think  that  the  organization  of  a  second  Lutheran  con- 
gregation and  the  erection  of  another  church-building  intended 
for  its  use  would  have  obviated  the  difficulty  and  have  been 
the  most  feasible  thing,  but  there  was  no  inclination  in  this 
direction.  During  the  summer  of  1763,  Hartwig  had  a  num- 
ber of  times  preached  to  Lutherans  in  the  German  Reformed 


404  LIFE  AND.  TIMES  OF 

church,  saying  that  he  wanted  to  serve  only  those  who  found 
no  room  in  St.  Michael's ;  but  his  proceeding  in  this  matter, 
acting  without  consultation  with  the  pastors  and  the  vestry 
of  St.  Michael's,  appeared  very  offensive,  and  the  permission 
to  use  the  German  Reformed  church  for  his  separatistic  agi- 
tation was  soon  withdrawn.  B,  M.  Hausihl,  who  for  a  time, 
in  the  autumn  of  1763,  had  served  the  congregation  at  Read- 
ing, entered  upon  his  duties  as  pastor  of  the  church  at  Easton, 
Pav  and  at  Greenwich,  in  its  neighborhood,  in  New  Jersey. 
With  both  these  congregations  he  had  involved  himself  in 
difficulties,  and  at  the  beginning  of  July,  1765,  came  to  Phil- 
adelphia as  having  received  a  call  from  the  anti-Pietistic  por- 
tion of  the  Lutheran  congregation  there.  A  resolution  passed 
by  the  vestry  on  July  i$th  prohibited  him  from  preaching  in 
St.  Michael's  and  serving  at  funerals  in  the  graveyard  of  the 
congregation.  He  nevertheless  in  August  brought  his  family 
and  his  furniture  to  Philadelphia,  where  soon  afterward  his 
mother-in-law  died,  and  on  Sept.  1st  he  preached  his  inaugural 
sermon.  His  intention  to  organize  a  separate  congregation 
met  with  no  success.*  May  4,  1766,  Miihlenberg  preached 
the  dedication  sermon  of  Trinity  Church  at  Lancaster.  The 
synod,  convened  at  Philadelphia  June  9th  to  I2th,  struck 
Hausihl's  name  from  the  ministerial  roll — an  act  done  in  the 
absence  of  Miihlenberg.  No  plan  to  organize  a  second  Ger- 
man Lutheran  congregation  at  Philadelphia  could  in  those 
times  succeed. 

*  It  appears  from  a  declaration  signed  by  two  members  of  the  German  Reformed 
church,  and  published  in  the  Philadelphia  Staatsbote  of  Aug.  5,  1765,  that  that 
party  of  the  Reformed  Church  which  erected  St.  George's  Church,  in  Fourth  street, 
south  of  New,  being  unable  to  carry  through  the  enterprise,  now  gave  "  the  half 
of  the  church"  to  a  certain  number  of  Lutherans;  that  they  had  accepted  Mr 
Hausihl  for  three  years  as  their  pastor  and  had  given  him  a  regular  call,  but  that 
it  was  untrue  that  during  this  period  no  Reformed  pastor  should  have  a  right  to 
preach  in  the  church ;  that  after  three  years  each  of  the  two  congregations  might 
elect  a  pastor  for  themselves.  It  is  also  stated  that  the  Reformed  had  before  for- 
mally offered  to  the  Lutheran  congregation  to  build  a  union  church,  but  the  offer 
was  refused.  (  Vide  also  A  History  of  the  Reformed  Church  in  Philadelphia,  by 
Rev.  David  van  Home.  Philadelphia,  Reformed  Church  Publication  Board,  907 
Arch  street,  1876.  pp.  40  sqq.) 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  405 

Feb.  19,  1766,  the  vestry  of  St.  Michael's  Church  resolved 
to  buy  a  piece  of  ground  on  the  south-east  corner  of  Cherry 
and  Fourth  streets,  opposite  the  school-house,  and  there  to 
erect  a  large  church.  The  very  fact  that  this  lot  was  only 
one  square  distant  from  St.  Michael's  proves  how  much  stress 
was  laid  upon  retaining  one  congregation.  To  the  resolution  of 
the  vestry  the  congregation  gave  its  unanimous  consent.  The 
lot,  1 08  by  70,  was  bought  for  fifteen  hundred  and  forty  pounds 
nine  shillings,  currency,  or  four  thousand  one  hundred  and  six 
dollars  and  sixty-six  cents.  The  liberal  contributions  coming 
from  the  members  of  the  congregation  during  the  months  of 
January  and  February  of  1766  amounted  to  eighteen  hundred 
Pennsylvania  pounds — considering  the  condition  of  the  people 
from  a  financial  point  of  view,  an  exceedingly  large  sum. 
April  25th  the  vestry  resolved  "  solemnly  to  lay  the  corner- 
stone of  the  second  Lutheran  church,  to  be  called  Zion 
Church."  Subsequently  the  vestry  added  that  during  the 
synodical  meeting  they  "  would  take  care  of  the  pastors  and 
of  their  horses,"  and  "that  a  steeple  should  be  attached  to 
the  church  and  be  built  up  while  her  walls  were  erected." 
Twenty-two  years  later  the  steeple  was  carried  -somewhat 
higher  than  the  lofty  roof  of  the  church,  but  never  finished. 
When  synod,  in  June,  1766,  met  at  Philadelphia,  the  corner- 
stone was  solemnly  laid  in  its  presence  on  June  nth.  In  the 
corner-stone  were  deposited  a  copy  of  Luther's  Small  Cate- 
chism printed  at  Philadelphia,  a  copy  of  the  Confessio  Augiis- 
tana  Invariata,  and  a  document  containing  the  essentials  of 
the  history  of  the  congregation  and  an  address  to  posterity.* 
When,  in  1869,  Zion  Church  was  demolished,  the  box  placed 
in  the  corner-stone  was  found,  but  of  its  contents  nothing  but 
insignificant  remnants  were  left.  This  may  be  attributed  to 
the  fire  which,  on  the  night  of  Dec.  26,  1794,  devastated  all 
the  interior  and  destroyed  the  roof  of  the  church.  During 
1766  the  walls  of  the  building  had  been  put  under  roof,  and 
during  the  following  year  the  arch-work  forming  the  ceiling 

*  This  address  is  preserved  to  us  in  Section  II.  of  the  thirteenth  continuation  of 
the  Halle  Reports. 


406  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

was  put  in  place  and  the  plastering  of  the  inside  of  the  build- 
ing was  completed.  Originally,  two  rows  of  high  columns 
from  south  to  north  divided  the  church  into  three  parts — a 
plan  which,  after  the  conflagration  of  1794,  was  totally 
changed.  This  church  was  for  a  considerable  number  of 
years  considered  to  be  the  largest  and  finest  house  of  wor- 
ship in  all  North  America.  Though  there  were  still  wanting 
the  organ  and  a  regular  .set  of  pews  and  other  appliances,  it 
was  dedicated  June  25,  1769,  before  an  immense  concourse 
of  people  and  amid  the  rejoicings  of  the  congregation,  which 
in  this  great  undertaking  had  shown  much  fervor  and  an 
admirable  willingness  to  serve  the  cause  of  religion.  In  the 
festivities  of  that  occasion  participated  the  members  of  the 
German  Lutheran  Ministerium,  the  pastors  of  the  Swedish 
and  German  Reformed  congregations,  the  commissary  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  the  provost  and  faculty  of  the  academy, 
the  mayor  of  Philadelphia,  and  other  dignitaries.  Whitefield 
accepted  the  invitation  to  preach  in  Zion  on  Sunday,  May  27, 
1770,  in  the  evening;  his  text  was  2  Cqr.  vii.  i.  He  requested 
that  the  services  conclude  with  the  singing  of  a  German  hymn. 
The  last  two  verses  of  Nun  ruhen  alle  Waelder  were  sung. 
The  large  building  was  overcrowded.  Whitefield  died  Sept. 
3Oth  of  the  same  year. 

That  a  debt  of  more  than  eight  thousand  Pennsylvania 
pounds  proved  a  heavy  burden  we  can  easily  understand. 
The  flourishing  condition  of  the  congregation  in  those  days 
is  attested  by  the  fact  that  already  in  1772  the  debts  were 
reduced  to  fifty-two  hundred  Pennsylvania  pounds.  The 
assistance  coming  from  Europe  was  in  this  respect  of  no 
great  account.  The  proposition  to  raise  a  considerable  sum 
of  money  by  opening  a  lottery  was  rejected  by  the  vestry  as 
not  being  in  accordance  with  Christian  principles,  though  in 
those  times  lotteries  helped  to  pay  the  debts  of  many  a  church. 
In  the  manner  in  which  the  St.  Michael  and  Zion  vestry  dis- 
posed of  the  proposition  we  may  properly  trace  the  influence 
of  Miihlenberg.  He  was  in  those  years  under  the  pressure  of 
the  responsibilities  incurred  in  behalf  of  St.  Peter's  at  Barren 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  407 

Hill,  but  there  also  he  had  not  advocated  a  measure  of  such 
a  profane  character  to  extricate  the  house  of  God  and  to  free 
himself  from  a  very  embarrassing  difficulty. 

When  Zion  Church  was  solemnly  dedicated  seven  years  had 
passed  since  Miihlenberg's  return  to  Philadelphia.  Certainly, 
the  building,  which  easily  accommodated  between  two  and 
three  thousand  people,  and  which  in  a  period  of  one  hundred 
years  offered  a  place  for  hundreds  of  thousands  of  souls  to 
worship  the  living  God,  was  a  monument  also  to  the  happy 
and  blessed  influence  which  during  those  seven  years  he  had 
exercised  upon  the  congregation.  That  building  formed  a 
parallel  to  that  other  work  wherein  within  the  same  period 
he  showed  his  master-hand — the  new  constitution  adopted  in 
1762,  without  which  Zion  Church  probably  would  never  have 
been  built.  To  this  must  be  added  the  great  unanimity  which 
years  before  the  end  of  that  period,  and  during  years  follow- 
ing it,  permeated  the  congregation,  and  amply  testified  to  the 
influence  which  Miihlenberg  exercised  by  his  superior  prac- 
tical intelligence  and  by  the  exalted  purity  of  his  character. 

In  answer  to  the  petition  after  the  death  of  Handschuh  sent 
to  Halle,  Rev.  Christopher  Emanuel  Schulze  arrived  Oct.  24, 
1765,  at  Philadelphia.  After  having  delivered  (Oct.  27th)  his 
inaugural  sermon  in  St.  Michael's,  he  was  on  the  following 
day  unanimously  elected  by  the  vestry  second  pastor  of  the 
congregation.  Miihlenberg  found  in  him  a  colleague  whom 
he  could  respect  and  love.  His  marriage  with  Miihlenberg's 
eldest  daughter,  Eve  Elizabeth,  born  Jan.  9,  1748,  brought 
him  still  nearer  to  his  heart.  The  marriage  ceremony  was 
performed  by  Wrangel,  Sept.  23,  1766.  Schulze  was  born 
Jan.  25,  1740,  at  Probstzell,  near  Saalfeld,  Saxony;  he  had 
received  his  theological  education  at  the  University  of  Halle, 
and  had  for  a  few  years  been  one  of  the  instructors  in  the 
Orphan-House  and  scholastic  institutions  of  that  city.  Hav- 
ing received  the  call  from  Pennsylvania  through  Dr.  G.  A. 
Francke  and  Dr.  Ziegenhagen,  he  was  ordained  at  Wernige- 
rode  before  departing,  by  the  way  of  Hamburg  and  London, 
for  America.  He  was  the  only  son  of  his  mother,  a  widow, 


408  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

and  had  an  only  sister,  who  died  before  the  mother,  who 
until  her  end  was  the  object  of  his  filial  care  and  attention. 
Schulze  was  a  man  of  very  commanding  appearance  and  of 
a  tall,  robust  frame;  as  a  preacher  he  was  most  acceptable, 
and  as  a  catechiser  was  without  a  superior.  When,  in  1769, 
J.  N.  Kurtz  was  called  to  York,  Schulze  was  elected  his  suc- 
cessor at  Tulpehoken.  To  this  change,  perfected  January, 
1771,  the  Philadelphia  congregation  consented  only  on  the 
condition  that  in  case  of  pressing  necessity  he  would  re-enter 
upon  the  pastoral  office  at  Philadelphia.  It  seems  that  he 
preferred  living  and  serving  in  the  country  to  sojourning  in 
the  city.  Already,  in  1768,  Miihlenberg  takes  occasion  to  tes- 
tify to  Schulze's  excellent  horsemanship,  and  relates  that  at  a 
later  time,  in  1782  (Oct.  4th),  Schulze  made  in  one  day  fifty 
miles  on  horseback.  When,  in  1784,  Dr.  Kunze  moved  from 
Philadelphia  to  New  York,  the  Philadelphia  congregation, 
reminding  Schulze  of  his  former  promise,  sent  him  such  a 
pressing  call  that  he  could  not  well  avoid  accepting  it.  A 
most  critical  and  protracted  sickness  interfered,  and,  Schulze's 
vitality  being  for  some  time  greatly  reduced,  the  Philadelphia 
congregation  could  not  insist  upon  his  removing  to  the  city. 
He  continued  in  his  service  at  Tulpehoken  and  other  neigh- 
boring congregations  until  his  death,  March  9,  1 809.  One  of 
his  sons,  John  Andrew  Melchior,  entered  the  ministerial  office 
in  1796,  and  for  some  time  assisted  his  father;  was  ordained 
in  1800,  settled  at  Womelsdorf,  Berks  county,  Pa.,  retired  in 
consequence  of  bodily  sufferings  from  the  ministerial  service ; 
was  in  1806  made  a  member  of  the  legislature  of  his  native 
State ;  and  this  grandson  of  H.  M.  Miihlenberg  was  twice  (1823- 
29)  elected  governor  of  Pennsylvania.  His  father  had  served 
as  president  of  synod  1781—85  and  1793-94.  As  a  pastor  he 
was  indefatigable  in  his  labors.  Miihlenberg  here  and  there 
takes  occasion  to  testify  to  his  most  arduous  life,  and  to  the 
conscientious  manner  in  which,  though  overwhelmed  with 
work  beyond  his  strength,  he  attended  to  his  duties.  Miihl- 
enberg preserves  to  us  a  letter  which  Schulze,  as  president 
of  synod,  sent  out  April  20,  1784,  to  invite  the  brethren  to 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  409 

the  annual  convention.  We  give  its  substance  to  our  readers : 
"  The  time  of  our  yearly  meeting  is  near.  I,  for  one,  already 
rejoice  in  the  thought  of  this  prospect  of  coming  together. 
In  this  joy  you,  my  highly-respected  brethren,  will  share. 
The  office  entrusted  to  us  by  our  Lord  being  full  of  impedi- 
ments and  difficulties,  let  us  at  our  meeting  again  encourage 
one  another  manfully  to  do  our  duty  and  in  spite  of  all  oppo- 
sition to  the  truth  never  to  become  weary.  Since  on  that  great 
day  to  come  we  shall  have  to  give  before  our  Chief  Shepherd 
an  account  how  we  attended  to  the  important  duties  laid  upon 
us,  let  us  incite  one  another  to  renewed  faithfulness  and  seri- 
ousness, that  in  the  end  we  may  be  found  faithful  stewards. 
May  the  Lord,  who  has  all  in  his  hands,  bestow  upon  our  con- 
vention a  lasting  blessing !"  Schulze  stood  very  high  in  the 
estimation  of  his  brethren  in  the  sacred  office,  who  honored 
him  by  the  title  of  "  Senior,"  and  at  all  times  showed  him 
the  highest  respect,  as  did  the  whole  community  in  which 
he  lived. 

It  may  be  proper  here  to  mention  a  few  more  of  the  cola- 
borers  of  Miihlenberg,  in  whose  welfare  he  took  much  con- 
cern, and  who  in  various  ways  were  brought  into  nearer  con- 
tact with  him. 

One  of  the  pastors  of  whose  sincerity  and  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  Christ  and  his  Church  Miihlenberg  entertained  a 
very  good  opinion,  and  to  whom  he  often  proved  a  judicious 
counsellor  and  a  true  friend,  was  John  Andrew  Krug,  born  in 
Saxony,  educated  in  Halle,  and  before  his  departure  for  Amer- 
ica with  his  companion,  J.  L.  Voigt,  ordained  at  Wernigerode. 
In  Germany  he  had  already  done  some  pastoral  service. 
After  a  tedious  voyage  from  London,  which  he  and  Voigt 
had  left  Jan.  24,  1764,  he  arrived  at  Philadelphia  on  Sunday 
afternoon,  April  1st,  and  was  welcomed  by  Miihlenberg  and 
Handschuh.  After  the  removal  of  Hausihl  to  Easton  the 
congregation  at  Reading  was  left  vacant.  We  find  that  Krug 
had  begun  his  pastoral  labors  there  before  April  3Oth,  on 
Easter  Day,  and  continued  therein,  though  a  regular  call  as 
pastor  of'  the  congregation  was  not  given  him  before  the 


4IO  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

autumn  of  the  same  year.  It  appears  that  he  also  served  the 
congregation  in  the  vicinity,  for  already  in  May  of  that  year 
Miihlenberg  states  that  Krug  began  to  acquire  some  skill  in 
riding  on  horseback.  He  was,  however,  not  of  a  robust  phys- 
ical constitution,  had  a  weak  voice,  and  was  short-sighted  to 
such  an  extent  that  in  reading  he  had  to  bring  his  eyes  almost 
down  upon  the  book.  But  his  unaffected  humility,  his  sincere 
piety,  and  his  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  those  who  were  entrusted 
to  his  care  could  not  fail  to  gain  for  him  the  esteem  and  the 
affection  of  those  who  were  spiritually  benefited  by  his  pas- 
toral services.  As  a  true  "  Hallensis  "  he  held  private  devo- 
tions with  such  in  addition  to  the  usual  public  service.  There 
were,  however,  among  the  membership  at  Reading  in  those 
days  some  rough  and  disturbing  elements,  and  they  embit- 
tered his  life.  In  1769  seventeen  members  lodged  unreason- 
able complaints  against  him  before  synod  and  demanded  his 
removal ;  their  demand,  however,  was  outweighed  by  a  counter- 
petition  signed  by  one  hundred  and  six  members.  It  appears 
that  in  1770  some  elders  of  the  Lutheran  church  at  Baltimore, 
afterward  served  by  Gerock,  were  favorably  inclined  toward 
Krug,  and  had  on  this  account  addressed  Miihlenberg.  In 
his  answer  of  Sept.  24,  1770,  to  one  of  them,  Dr.  Chas.  Fr. 
Wiesenthal,  he  says :  "  Provided  Rev.  Krug  should,  accord- 
ing to  the  divine  will,  be  the  instrument  to  build  up  the  con- 
gregation, as  the  gentlemen  elders  seem  to  think,  I  agree  with 
you  in  this — that  you  selected  a  man  of  excellent  charac- 
ter, who  already  served  in  the  sacred  office  in  Germany,  in 
consequence  of  our  urgent  petitions  was  given  to  this  Amer- 
ican vineyard,  free  of  all  expenses,  to  assist  us,  presided  for 
some  years  in  the  Reading  church,  teaching  pure  doctrine 
and  walking  without  blemish,  though  he  experienced  there 
much  rude  treatment  from  some  puffed-up  persons.  In  addi- 
tion '  to  this,  I  testify  from  my  personal  knowledge  that  he  is 
not  only  very  well  versed  in  the  Oriental  languages  wherein 
God's  word  is  written,  but  in  all  the  branches  of  theology, 
and  adorns  his  preaching  with  a  Christian  walk  and  conversa- 
tion. I  count  it  one  of  his  peculiar  gifts  that  he  is  eminently 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  41! 

able,  in  catechising  and  in  instructing,  to  deal  in  a  friendly 
and  edifying  manner  with  young  people — a  quality  most 
necessary  in  a  teacher.  I  also  say  that  he  is  neither  a  hypo- 
crite nor  a  flatterer,  but  speaks  to  every  one  the  truth  without 
prevarication,  and  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  high  or  low.  But 
the  difficulty  rests  in  this — that  for  some  time  past  the  elders 
and  deacons  of  the  congregation  at  Fredericktown  have  re- 
quested Rev.  Krug  to  become  their  pastor,  and  sent  me  a  call 
to  be  laid  at  the  next  synodical  meeting  before  the  ministe- 
rium  to  be  deliberated  upon,  and  to  be  approved  of  or  dis- 
approved." This  is  ample  proof  of  Miihlenberg's  good  opin- 
ion of  Krug. 

The  action  of  synod  resulted  in  1771  in  a  regular  call  from 
the  Fredericktown  congregation,  and  in  Krug's  removal  to 
that  field  in  the  same  year.  Here  J.  S.  Schwerdfeger,  who 
has  already  been  mentioned,  had1  been  pastor  since  October, 
1763,  after  his  admission  into  synod  in  1762.  After  returning 
from  a  voyage  to  Europe,  where  he  had  expected  to  receive 
Episcopal  ordination  in  England,  he  found  the  Fredericktown 
congregation,  which  Hartwig  had  served  in  the  interim,  un- 
willing to  re-enter  into  a  connection  with  him ;  moved,  after 
some  delay  in  Pennsylvania,  to  Albany,  N.  Y. ;  then,  about 
1784,  to  the  neighboring  Feilestown,  where  he  died  about 
1788,  after  having  in  1786  participated  in  the  formation  of  the 
New  York  Ministerium. 

In  obeying  a  request  of  the  church-officers  at  Strassburg, 
Va.,  June  15-30,  1772 — consequently,  a  short  time  before 
Peter  Miihlenberg  entered  there  upon  his  remarkable  career 
— Krug  undertook  a  tour  to  that  province,  visited  Winchester 
(where  he  found  an  unfinished  stone  church  begun  by  the  Lu- 
therans years  before),  Neustadt,  Strassburg,  and  Woodstock ; 
preached  at  those  places,  instructed  children,  celebrated  the 
Lord's  Supper,  visited  the  sick,  and  baptized  forty-five  chil- 
dren. In  the  same  year  (Oct.  6th)  he  was  married  by  Miihl- 
enberg  to  Henrietta,  only  daughter  of  Handschuh,  whose 
widow  died  some  years  later  in  Krug's  house.  About  the 
year  1783,  in  addition  to  Fredericktown,  he  served  congrega- 


412  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

tions  in  its  neighborhood,  but  was  hardly  strong  enough  for 
all  this  work,  and  incurred  here  also,  in  1785  and  the  follow- 
ing years,  the  ill-will  of  some  persons,  who  may  have  felt 
themselves  aggrieved  by  his  testifying  against  their  unchris- 
tian manner  of  living,  but  was  amply  sustained  against  their 
complaints  by  the  voice  of  an  overwhelming  majority  of  his 
membership.  .In  spite  of  serious  attacks  of  sickness  and  of 
his  general  physical  debility,  he  continued  in  his  pastoral 
activity  until  the  day  of  his  death,  May  30,  1796.  Synod 
resolved  that  Rev.  Dr.  G.  H.  E.  Miihlenberg,  pastor  of  the 
Lancaster  congregation,  son  of  H.  M.  Miihlenberg,  should, 
with  Goering  and  Melsheimer,  two  other  members  of  the 
ministerium,  proceed  to  Fredericktown  and  there  deliver  a 
funeral  sermon. 

With  John  L.  Voigt,  who  had  come  to  this  country  with 
Krug,  and  had  with  him  been  ordained  at  Wernigerode, 
Muhlenberg  had  in  later  years  much  personal  intercourse. 
His  preaching  in  St.  Michael's  (Apr.  8,  1764)  the  first  time 
.  after  his  arrival  made  a  favorable  impression  upon  a  num- 
ber of  the  Philadelphia  congregation,  but  he  himself  made 
a  less  favorable  one  upon  Miihlenberg's  oldest  daughter,  who 
not  long  afterward  refused  his  proposals.  J.  N.  Kurtz  having 
returned  to  Tulpehoken,  Voigt  was  stationed  at  Germantown 
from  July  7,  1764,  serving  also  at  Barren  Hill,  but  followed  in 
1765  a  call  to  Providence,  was  elected  in  1768  at  New  Han- 
over, where  a  certain  clique  had  attempted  to  palm  either 
the  miserable  man  Rapp  of  Germantown  memory,  or  the 
equally  despicable  individual  Engelland,  upon  the  congrega- 
tion. Voigt  served  also  at  Pikestown,  on  the  west  side  of  the 
Schuylkill.  He  quitted  the  service  at  New  Hanover  about 
1776  and  moved  to  Pikestown  (called  also  St.  Vincent),  where 
until  1762  Lutherans  and  Reformed  had  used  the  same  log 
church,  which  then  fell  exclusively  into  the  hands  of  the 
Lutherans.  This  church  was  called  Zion.  In  1772  a  num- 
ber of  its  members  erected,  some  miles  to  the  south-west  of 
Zion,  St.  Peter's  Church.  Zion  was  rebuilt  of  stone  before  the 
outbreak  of  the  Revolutionary  War.  When  Muhlenberg,  in 


HENRY  MELCH2OR  MUHLENBERG.  413 

1776,  returned  to  Providence  (Trappe),  Voigt  moved  to  a  par- 
sonage erected  by  the  people  of  Zion  and  St.  Peter's  west  of 
the  Schuylkill,  served  also  the  Lutherans  at  Pottstown,  and 
alternately  with  Miihlenberg,  about  1778  and  1779,  at  Prov- 
idence. This  latter  congregation  he  attended  yet  for  some 
time  after  1790,  retaining  the  others  until  his  death,  Dec.  28, 
1800.  He  had  reached  the  age  of  seventy  years.  His  mor- 
tal remains  rest  near.  Zion  Church.  The  inscription  on  his 
tombstone  informs  us  that  he  was  born  in  Mansfeld,  well 
known  through  Luther's  biography.  After  having  finished 
his  theological  education,  he  was  for  a  time  engaged  as  a 
teacher  in  the  Halle  institutions,  when  the  call  to  Pennsyl- 
vania came  to  him.  In  his  ministerial  services  Voigt  proved 
himself  a  true  son  of  Halle.  When  at  New  Hanover  he 
introduced  hours  of  private  devotion  among  those  of  his 
membership  who  felt  a  deeper  spiritual  interest,  and  in  doing 
this  incurred  the  opposition  of  such  as  viewed  that  practice 
as  a  sign  of  heterodoxy,,  or  at  least  used  it  as  a  pretext.  He 
was  a  man  of  marked  individuality,  but  was  occasionally  lack- 
ing in  judiciousness.  Already  in  Germantown  he  involved  him- 
self in  some  financial  difficulties,  as  he  did  not  fully  under- 
stand how  to  "  make  both  ends  meet."  He  fell  into  a  worse 
difficulty  at  New  Hanover,  where,  on  account  of  suspicions 
aroused  by  his  want  of  circumspection,  the  people  for  a  time 
became  very  averse  to  him,  and  Muhlenberg,  while  not  doubt- 
ing his  innocence,  found  it  necessary  to  address  him  a  letter 
which  was  anything  but  flattering.  He  advised  Voigt  to 
marry,  and  united  him  in  1779  (Nov.  1 6th),  in  his  own  house, 
in  marriage  with  Anna  Mary,  widow  of  Conrad  Soellner. 
During  the  War  of  Independence,  Voigt  was  time  and  again 
exposed  to  the  rudeness  of  the  soldiers  of  the  American  army 
encamped  not  very  far  from  his  parsonage.  He  was  consid- 
ered a  Tory,  as  he  refused  publicly  to  pray  for  the  American 
Congress.  At  one  time  he  absented  himself  for  three  years 
from  the  meetings  of  synod.  Later,  on  account  of  his  ad- 
vanced age,  he  was  permitted  to  remain  away.  His  library, 
which  he  bequeathed  to  his  congregation,  testified  to  his  lit- 


4H  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

erary  tastes.  He  was  well  educated  in  music,  and  especially 
in  organ-playing.  Living  in  the  vicinity  of  Providence,  he 
was  brought  into  frequent  personal  intercourse  with  Muhlen- 
berg,  who  here  and  there  in  his  diary  indicates  that  he  appre- 
ciated the  social  qualities  of  his  friend  and  colaborer  Voigt. 
And  it  was  Voigt  who  during  Miihlenberg's  last  sickness  and 
the  days  of  his  approaching  end  had  free  access  to  him,  and 
who  spoke  to  him  words  of  consolation  and  encouragement. 

We  have  already  had  occasion  to  speak  of  those  two  excel- 
lent men,  John  Fred.  Schmidt  and  Justus  H.  Chr.  Helmuth, 
both  of  whom  arrived  April  2,  1769,  at  Philadelphia.  From 
their  school-years  they  were  united  by  the  tenderest  ties  of 
friendship,  and  from  1786  until  1812 — in  which  year  Schmidt 
preceded  his  friend  into  eternity — also  by  the  pastoral  care  of 
the  Philadelphia  congregation.  Their  most  important  activity 
and  influence  in  the  Church  fall  into  the  period  subsequent  to 
Miihlenberg's  life,  and  we  have  to  content  ourselves  with  a 
few  additional  notices  throwing  some  light  upon  their  career 
and  character. 

After  his  arrival  Schmidt  assisted  Muhlenberg  for  a  short 
time  at  Philadelphia,  and  then  followed  the  call  to  German- 
town,  serving,  also,  Barren  Hill  and  some  other  outposts, 
which  in  subsequent  years  caused  him  very  arduous  labor. 
When,  in  1772,  Muhlenberg  visited  the  congregations  Bed- 
minster,  etc.  in  New  Jersey,  which  by  the  removal  of  his  son 
Peter  to  Virginia  had 'become  vacant,  the  name  of  Schmidt 
was  mentioned,  among  others;  as  a  possible  successor.  There 
were  objections  raised  against  a  number  of  older  and  younger 
brethren  whom  Muhlenberg  proposed.  Of  Schmidt  the  mem- 
bers of  the  vestry  said  that  "  in  the  pulpit  he  proved  himself 
a  good  preacher,  but  had  not  salt  enough  "  in  his  intercourse 
with  the  people.  He  had  no  desire  to  move  to  New  Jersey., 
He  was  in  1772  married  to  the  daughter  of  a  former  elder  of 
the  Germantown  congregation  who  resided  at  Philadelphia, 
and  there  died  in  1778.  Schmidt  enjoyed  the  high  esteem  of 
the  congregations  under  his  care.  The  former  dissensions  in 
the  Germantown  congregation  had  been  succeeded  by  a  bliss- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  415 

ful  peace.  When,  in  1784,  Kunze  accepted  the  call  to  Christ 
Church  at  New  York,  and  Schulze  could  not  enter  upon  an 
official  engagement  at  Philadelphia  on  account  of  the  precari- 
ous condition  of  his  health,  Schmidt  was  appointed  (June  29, 
1785),  by  the  vestry  of  the  Philadelphia  congregation,  Hel- 
muth's  assistant,  and  Sept.  iSth  of  the  following  year,  by  five 
hundred  affirmative  votes,  was  elected  second  pastor.  Thus 
the  friends  were  made  colleagues  ;  and  it  seems  that  this  pecu- 
liar relation  did  not  in  any  way  interfere  with  their  friendship, 
though  it  is  said  that  when  both  pastors  preached,  as  usual, 
at  the  same  time — one  in  St.  Michael's,  the  other  in  Zion — 
the  people  were  seen  standing  on  the  pavement  watching  to 
which  church  the  one  or  the  other  would  turn,  Helmuth 
invariably  attracting  the  much  larger  audience.  When,  in 
1770,  after  the  removal  of  J.  N.  Kurtz  to  York,  the  Tulpeho- 
ken  charge  was  vacant,  and  Schmidt  paid  a  visit  there  during 
the  latter  part  of  August,  and  then  turned  his  course  toward 
Lancaster,  his  friend  Helmuth  came  twenty-three  miles  to  meet 
him.  With  all  his  solid  learning,  his  eminent  knowledge  of 
Oriental  languages,  and  all  his  other  attainments,  Schmidt 
was  not  a  man  much  inclined  to  bring  himself  forward.  It 
appears  that  he  was  of  a  retiring  disposition  and  not  desirous 
of  much  public  notice,  but  there  were  those  who  knew  how 
to  appreciate  his  substantial  erudition  and  his  excellent  cha- 
racter, and  to  this  the  title  of  doctor  of  divinity,  given  him 
by  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  testifies.  During  the  fear- 
ful ravages  of  yellow  fever  at  Philadelphia  in  1793,  when 
through  the  pestilence  the  congregation  lost  no  less  than 
six  hundred  and  twenty-five  of  its  members,  he  was  himself 
attacked  by  the  terrible  disease,  besides  losing  by  it  seven 
children,  and  shortly  afterward  the  partner  of  his  life.  In 
those  days  of  terror  and  affliction  the  vestry  prohibited  the 
pastors  from  following  funerals  to  the  graves.  Thousands  of 
citizens  had  fled  from  the  city.  The  two  friends  and  pastors 
remained  at  their  post,  faithfully  doing  their  duty.  After 
much  bodily  suffering,  Schmidt  died  May  1 6,  1812,  in  the 
sixty-seventh  year  of  his  age.  At  the  funeral  Dr.  Helmuth 


41 6  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

spoke  most  affectingly  on  the  words,  "  I  am  distressed  for 
thee,  my  brother  Jonathan.  Very  pleasant  hast  thou  been 
unto  me ;  thy  love  to  me  was  wonderful,  passing  the  love  of 
women  "  (2  Sam.  ii.  26).  The  second  Sunday  after  burying 
his  friend  in  front  of  the  chancel  in  St.  Michael's  he  held  a 
solemn  service  in  Zion,  speaking  on  the  words  Rom.  i.  16. 

Helmuth,  who  was  born  in  1745  at  Helmstedt  in  the  duke- 
dom of  Brunswick,  lost  his  father  in  very  early  life,  was 
received  in  his  fourteenth  year  into  the  Orphan-House  at 
Halle,  some  years  later  attended  the  university  there,  and 
was  afterward  engaged  as  a  teacher  in  the  Francke  institu- 
tions, where  his  eminent  talent  for  teaching  and  preaching 
could  not  escape  observation.  When  the  call  to  Pennsylvania 
came,  all  his  hesitation  to  accept  of  it  was  removed  by  the 
readiness  of  his  intimate  friend,  Schmidt,  to  accompany  him. 
When  both  had  arrived  at  Philadelphia,  and  each  of  them  had 
delivered  a  sermon,  Miihlenberg  in  a  letter  to  his  friend  Rev. 
Pasche  at  London  alludes  to  the  usual  curiosity  of  the  people 
to  hear  new  preachers,  and  sub  rosa  communicates  to  him  the 
popular  opinion  about  both  of  them:  "  Concerning  Mr.  Hel- 
muth they  say,  '  This  youth  suits  America.  He  will,  when 
riper  in  years,  prove  an  excellent  impressive  preacher ;  in  the 
pulpit  he  will  excel  even  Mr.  Schulze.  He  must  be  retained 
in  Philadelphia :  three  men  have  enough  work  here ;  the  old 
man  [Miihlenberg]  must  be  placed  in  an  easier  position.'  Of 
Mr.  Schmidt  they  say, '  He  is  also  a  promising  young  man,  but 
does  not  come  up  to  Helmuth.  He  stands  in  the  pulpit  like 
a  stock,  without  moving  a  hand,  as  a  schoolboy  who  has  to 
recite  a  lesson,  and,  not  having  memorized  it  well,  is  afraid  of 
punishment ;  he  does  not  touch  the  heart,  is  rather  dry,  and 
falls  in  preaching  into  a  singing  manner,  like  Handschuh  or 
Krug.'  "  In  this  quotation  of  popular  opinion  there  is  a  lesson 
deserving  to  be  remembered. 

The  good  reports  about  Helmuth's  preaching  had  already 
reached  Lancaster,  then  vacant  on  account  of  Gerock's  re- 
moval to  New  York.  Miihlenberg  accompanied  Helmuth 
(Apr.  22,  1769)  to  Lancaster,  visited  a  number  of  smaller  con- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  417 

gregations  of  the  neighborhood,  and  proceeded  to  York  (where 
he  had  not  visited  for  a  considerable  number  of  years),  for  the 
first  time  saw  the  recently-erected  church ;  met  Bager,  and 
received  from  Raus,  residing  there,  a  letter  full  of  hostile  sen- 
timents and  charges  of  having  caused  persecution  to  the  author 
of  the  letter.  The  vestry  at  Lancaster  had  meanwhile  elected 
Helmuth  their  pastor.  This  Muhlenberg  four  days  later  (Sun- 
day, May  2  ist)  announced  to  the  congregation,  with  the  un- 
derstanding that  for  a  time  he  and  Schulze  should  share  with 
Helmuth  the  care  of  the  congregation.  Helmuth,  however, 
was  eminently  successful  in  this  new  field.  It  was  with  the 
greatest  reluctance  that  this  congregation  saw  him  leave 
and  in  1779  accept  a  call  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  had  been 
elected  (May  25th)  by  three  hundred  and  fifty-six  votes,  some 
of  the  ballots  also  having  on  them  the  words  "  No  Rector." 
There  was  no  need  of  this  allusion  to  a  subject  which  for  a 
time  had  unpleasantly  agitated  the  congregation.  In  the 
charter  of  1765,  Muhlenberg  had  received  that  title,  but  it 
met  with  no  sympathy  in  a  German  congregation,  had  even 
become  offensive,  and  at  the  time  of  Helmuth's  election  was 
going  out  of  use.  In  1784  the  latter  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Philosophical  Society  of  Philadelphia,  in  the  following 
year  president  of  synod,  and  by  the  trustees  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania  was  made  doctor  of  divinity.  In  that  scholas- 
tic institution  he  held  for  eighteen  years  the  chair  of  German 
and  Oriental  languages.  July  4,  1770,  he  was  married  to 
Barbara,  daughter  of  Henry  Keppele,  with  whom  he  lodged 
for  some  time  after  moving  to  Philadelphia.  In  1785  the  con- 
gregation had  paid  all  its  debts,  and  erected,  in  1786,  a  new 
parsonage,  at  the  north-east  corner  of  Fourth  and  Cherry 
streets.  In  1785,  assisted  by  his  friend  and  colleague 
Schmidt,  Helmuth  began  the  preparation  of  young  men  for 
the  sacred  office,  and  succeeded  in  furnishing  to  the  Church 
a  number  of  pastors  who  are  kept  in  well-deserved  remem- 
brance— among  them,  Rev.  Messrs.  J.  G.  Lochman,  Endress, 
J.  G.  Schmucker,  Miller,  Baker,  Goering,  Batis.  Helmuth  was 
also  a  prolific  author.  In  1793  he  published  a  work  on  bap- 

27 


41 8  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

tism  and  on  the  Holy  Scriptures,  an  historical  and  interesting 
book  in  connection  with  the  yellow-fever  visitation,  various 
tracts  and  some  hymns,  and  also  articles  for  the  Evangelical 
Magazine,  which  appeared  at  Philadelphia  under  his  editor- 
ship. In  all  his  publications  his  talent  can  be  clearly  seen. 
But,  while  he  retains  substantially  the  creed  and  the  forms  of 
the  older  Pietism,  and  is  not  conscious  of  departing  from  Lu- 
theran principles,  and  forcibly  defends  the  orthodox  faith 
against  Rationalism,  becoming,  at  times,  rampant,  his  lan- 
guage is  no  longer  that  of  a  Spener  or  a  H.  A.  Francke  or  a 
Muhlenberg,  but  is  sentimental  and  declamatory,  and  shows 
the  influence  of  a  later  neological  period  of  German  literature 
and  theology.  There  is  a  truth  in  the  old  saying,  Qui  nintat 
verba,  mutat  sensum.  As  a  preacher  Helmuth  was  considered 
a  man  of  most  eminent  endowment.  It  is  reported  that  he 
had  the  habit  of  beginning  with  a  low  voice  and  in  a  very 
quiet  manner.  This  produced  close  attention  and  complete 
quiet  in  his  audience.  When  he  had  once  excited  the  interest 
of  his  hearers,  he  kept  them  riveted  to  himself  by  the  fluency 
of  his  speech,  the  beauty  of  his  language,  and  the  enthusias- 
tic ardor  which  magnetically  carried  his  hearers  along.  He 
was  exceedingly  felicitous  in  catechising  children,  and  by  his 
vivacity  and  natural  kindness  excited  their  interest  in  the  sub- 
jects presented  to  them. 

During  the  period  in  which  Schmidt  and  Helmuth  presided 
over  the  Philadelphia  congregation  attempts  were  made  to 
introduce  the  English  language  into  the  public  services:  This 
led  to  very  severe  struggles,  to  much  animosity,  and  even  to 
lawsuits.  The  pastors  were  convinced  that  the  introduction 
of  the  English  into  the  old  German  congregation  would  in  a 
short  time  end  in  the  total  expulsion  of  the  German  language 
and  the  Germans  from  the  old  spiritual  homestead,  and  put 
succeeding  immigrant  generations  where,  at  the  arrival  of 
Muhlenberg  in  1742,  the  German  Lutherans — having  no 
church,  no  school,  no  graveyard — had  been  under  immensely 
greater  obstacles.  But  this  is  no  reason  why,  with  all  good- 
will and  all  their  influence,  they  should  not  have  assisted  in 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  419 

the  formation  of  an  English  Lutheran  church  as  a  receptacle 
for  those  of  their  membership  who  could  no  longer  be  bene- 
fited by  services  held  in  the  German  language.  The  move- 
ment begun  by  such  about  the  year  1806  under  the  auspices 
of  Rev.  Ph.  Fr.  Mayer,  D.  D.,  was,  however,  successful,  and  re- 
sulted in  the  organization  of  St.  John's  Evangelical  Lutheran 
congregation  and  the  erection  of  a  large  church-building. 
Helmuth  resigned  his  charge  in  1820,  and  five  years  later 
(Feb.  5,  1825)  departed  this  life. 


42O  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

1766  et  seq. 

Provost  Wrangel  returns  to  Sweden. — His  relation  to  the  Episcopal  Church. — 
Miihlenberg's  eldest  son,  J.  Peter  Gabriel,  returns  from  Europe  and  devotes 
himself  to  the  study  of  theology. — His  further  career. — H.  M.  Miihlenberg 
again  visits  the  Raritan  congregations,  also  Easton,  Allentown,  Macungie, 
Salisbury,  Allemaengel,  and  White  Hall — His  sons  Fred.  Aug.  Conrad  and  G. 
Henry  Ernest  return  from  Halle  prepared  for  pastoral  work. — They  enter 
upon  it. — Their  further  career. — Rev.  J.  Chr.  Kunze. — His  labors  in  Phila- 
delphia, and  later  in  New  York. 

A  DMITTING,  as  we  must,  that  the  men  who  arrived 
•^j-  here  while  Miihlenberg  was  yet  in  full  vigor  and  ener- 
getic activity  added,  each  of  "  them  according  to  the  ability 
which  God  giveth,"  strength  to  the  cause  of  the  Church  and 
filled  important  stations,  the  Church,  especially  the  Swedish 
branch  of  it,  suffered  a  great  loss  in  this  part  of  the  world  by 
the  return  of  Provost  Wrangel  to  his  native  country  in  1768. 
That  the  departure  of  this  devoted  friend  and  colaborer  was 
most  severely  felt  by  Muhlenberg  needs  no  remark.  Wran- 
gel may  have  erred  in  some  of  his  views  and  intentions, 
but  the  sincerity  of  his  heart  cannot  be  doubted.  He  was 
undeniably  inclined  to  unionistic  principles  and  favored  an 
amalgamation  of  the  Lutheran  and  the  Episcopal  churches. 
His  strongly-developed  Pietism,  his  warm  sympathy  with 
Whitefield  and  his  views  and  methods,  caused  some  dis- 
trust among  the  Swedish  pastors  over  whom  he  was  placed 
as  overseer.  Wrangel  may  have  been  convinced  that  in  con- 
sequence of  the  cessation  of  Swedish  immigration  the  Swe- 
dish churches  would  before  long  have  exclusively  to  use 
the  English  language  in  their  worship.  As  these  congrega- 
tions would  no  longer  make  use  of  the  services  of  pastors 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  421 

directly  sent  from  Sweden,  and  as  there  was  here  no  school 
of  divinity  in  which  young  men  were  educated  to  serve 
Lutheran  congregations  in  the  English  language,  he  may 
have  been  convinced  that  it  would  be  better  for  the  Swedish 
Lutherans  to  be  united  with  the  Episcopal  rather  than  with 
any  other  ecclesiastical  body,  since  they  could  not  well  retain 
their  individuality  as  Lutheran  congregations.  This  explains 
why  Rev.  Rich.  Peters,  rector  of  Christ  Church,  and  already 
known  to  us,  says  in  the  letter  introducing  Wrangel,  under 
date  Aug.  36,  1768,  to  the  bishop  of  London,  after  alluding 
to  the  Presbyterians  and  to  their  harsh  manners  and  prin- 
ciples :  "  Dr.  WrangeJ  wants  to  take  a  just  advantage  of  this 
general  antipathy  to  the  Presbyterians,  and  to  unite  the  great 
body  of  Lutherans  and  Swedes  with  the  Church  of  England, 
who,  you  know,  are  but  few  and  in  mean  circumstances  in 
this  province  ;  but  were  they  united  with  the  German  Luther- 
ans we  should  both  become  respectable."  Already  in  1765  it 
was  rumored  that  Wrangel,  in  consequence  of  the  complaints 
lodged  against  him  by  the  Swedish  pastors  Borell,  Wicksell, 
and  Hegeblad,  had  received  orders  to  return  to  Sweden; 
which  orders,  however,  as  Muhlenberg  states,  met  with  the  op- 
position of  the  Swedish  churches  here  and  made  no  impression 
in  Sweden.  After  nine  years  of  labor  in  the  foreign  land  he 
obeyed  the  call  from  Sweden,  and  Sept.  I,  1768,  left  Philadel- 
phia, his  field  of  arduous  services  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
together  with  a  host  of  friends,  among  whom  none  felt  his 
loss  more  severely  than  did  Muhlenberg,  who  also  was  anx- 
ious about  his  successor  as  provost,  and  about  the  position 
he  would  here  take  in  relation  to  his  own  diocese  and  to  the 
German  Lutheran  Church.  This  successor  as  provost  and  as 
pastor  of  Wicaco  church  was  Andrew  Goeranson,  who  had 
arrived  here  in  1766,  continued  to  maintain  the  pleasant  rela- 
tion between  Swedish  and  German  Lutheran  churches,  was 
present  at  the  synodical  convention  at  Lancaster  in  1772, 
accompanied  Muhlenberg  on  his  tour  to  dedicate  St.  Peter's 
Church,  near  Pikestown,  Nov.  8th,  continued  in  his  offices 
here  until  1779,  left  for  his  native  country  in  1785,  and  after 


422  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

much  suffering  died  in  1800.  Wrangel,  returning  to  Sweden 
by  way  of  England,  proved  his  friendship  by  making  efforts 
to  create  among  the  Anglican  Church  people  and  in  German 
Lutheran  congregations  of  London  an  active  sympathy  for 
the  German  Lutheran  churches  in  Pennsylvania,  in  which 
benevolent  enterprise  he  was  only  partially  successful.  After 
his  arrival  in  Sweden  he  was,  as  Clay  asserts  in  his  Swe- 
dish Annals,  etc.,  created  a  bishop.  He  continued  to  corre- 
spond with  his  friend  Miihlenberg,  and  in  a  letter  of  June 
15,  1784,  informs  him  that  he  would  never  forget  either  his 
friend  or  America,  that  his  lot  was  now  cast  in  pleasant 
places,  and  that  he  was  rector  of  two  congregations  and 
provost  of  the  district.  The  letter  is  dated  from  Sahla,  in 
Sweden.  He  died  in  1786,  which  fact  Miihlenberg  states 
April  22,  1787. 

Two  years  before  Wrangel  returned  to  Sweden,  Miihlen- 
berg's  first-born  son,  Peter,  returned  to  his  native  country.  It 
appears  that  after,  for  a  time,  receiving  instruction  in  the  Halle 
institutions  the  practical  turn  of  his  mind  had  very  strongly 
shown  itself,  and,  as  he  was  inclined  to  the  natural  sciences,  it 
was  deemed  proper  to  apprentice  him  for  the  term  of  six  years 
to  Niemeyer,  a  druggist  at  Liibeck,  a  relative  of  whom  was 
in  close  connection  with  the  Halle  institutions.  In  his.  mas- 
ter's house  young  Peter  did  not  enjoy  the  attention  which  his 
health  needed,  but  proved  faithful  to  his  master  for  some  time. 
Soon  he  found  that  here  he  could  make  no  progress  in  the 
pursuit  of  natural  sciences,  as  Niemeyer's  business  was  of  a 
very  circumscribed  character  and  essentially  connected  with 
articles  which  to  the  young  aspirant  afforded,  indeed,  no 
particular  interest.  He  may  also  have  felt  that  he  was  kept 
under  undue  restraint,  and  that  so  long  an  apprenticeship 
would  bring  to  his  employer  advantages  out  of  all  propor- 
tion to  the  gains  on  his  own  side.  But  "  one  fine  morning  " 
he  was  found  missing  without  having  given  any  notice.  Fol- 
lowing his  natural  instinct,  he  had  joined,  as  in  those  times 
many  young  men  were  wont  to  do,  a  military  troop  marching 
through  the  place  in  quest  of  recruits,  and  the  captain  had 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  423 

appointed  him  secretary  of  the  regiment*  Of  course  the 
step  was  an  inconsiderate  one,  and  it  produced  anxiety  at 
Halle  and  grief  to  his  parents  beyond  the  Atlantic.  Through 
the  exertions  of  sympathizing  friends  he  was,  however,  libe- 
rated from  his  engagement,  received  an  honorable  dismission 
from  the  colonel  of  his  regiment,  and  found  his  way  back  to  his 
native  country.  No  doubt  joy  on  account  of  the  return  of 
their  first-born  after  three  years  of  separation,  and  anxiety 
about  his  future,  were  mixed  in  the  hearts  of  the  parents.  To 
the  son  himself  all  the  hopes  of  gain  by  a  thorough  educa- 
tion in  Germany  may  have  appeared  to  be  blasted.  Yet  he 
had  passed  through  an  experience  which  could  not  but  leave 
a  lasting  impression  for  good  and  better  prepare  him  for  the 
hardsh-ips  waiting  for  him.  And  now  Wrangel,  the  true  friend 
of  the  family,  stepped  in.  He  took  Peter  into  his  house  and 
under  his  care,  instructed  him,  directed  his  studies,  stimulated 
the  promising  elements  in  his  pupil,  led  him  to  a  more  spirit- 
ual life,  and  caused  in  him  a  desire  to  serve  the  interests  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  As  another  instance  of  the  in- 
fluence which  Wrangel  exerted  upon  young  candidates  for  the 
sacred  office,  we  mention  that  Daniel'  Kuhn,  son  of  a  physi- 
cian of  Lancaster  who  also  for  a  time  held  the  office  of  mayor 
of  the  city,  was  furnished  by  Miihlenberg,  in  June,  1771,  with 
letters  of  introduction,  composed  in  Latin,  to  Wrangel,  under 
whom,  in  Sweden,  he  intended  to  continue  his  theological 
studies.  A  brother  of  his  had  studied  botany  in  Upsala  under 
the  famous  Linnaeus,  and  was  afterward  elected  professor  of 
botany  and  medicine  in  the  Philadelphia  college. 

When  Wrangel,  in  the  winter  and  spring  of  1768,  was  sev- 
eral times  absent,  Peter  Miihlenberg,  at  the  request  of  the 
vestry,  preached  to  the  Wicaco  congregation,  and  by  his 
efforts  gave  much  satisfaction.  His  father  had  before  on 
various  occasions  sent  him  to  vacant  congregations,  which 

*  This  whole  episode  in  the  life  of  General  Peter  MUhlenberg  is  fully  elucidated 
from  the  material  in  the  archives  of  the  Halle  Orphan-House  by  Rev.  W.  Ger- 
mann,  D.  D..  superintendent  and  church-counsellor  at  Wasungen,  Sachsen-Meinin- 
gen  (Deutsck-Amerikanisches  Magazin,  edited  by  H.  A.  Rattermann,  vol.  i., 
1886,  1887,  Cincinnati,  Ohio:  S.  Rosenthal  &  Co.). 


424  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

were  well  pleased  with  his  conduct  and  his  preaching.  When 
Peter  preached  in  the  Wicaco  church,  the  concourse  of  the 
members  of  the  German  Lutheran  Church  drawn  by  natural 
curiosity  was  so  great  that  the  ordinary  Sunday  collections 
in  St.  Michael's  were  sensibly  diminished,  and,  the  people 
requesting  that  Peter  should  also  preach  in  St.  Michael's,  his 
father  finally  consented,  and  on  Good  Friday  evening  of  that 
year  allowed  him  to  preach  there  on  "The  Burial  of  Christ." 
And  here  we  cannot  refrain  from  giving  the  father's  ovyn 
words  as  he  wrote  them  in  a  letter  of  June  8th  to  Francke 
and  Ziegenhagen :  "  When  my  permission  was  made  public, 
there  was  such  a  concourse  and  throng  in  St.  Michael's  as 
never  before  had  taken  place,  as  they  told  me,  since  the 
church  was  erected.  I  did  not  go  there,  but  stayed  at  home 
in  my  small  chamber,  feeling  like  a  condemned  publican  and 
a  worm,  with  tears  praying  the  Chief  Shepherd  and  Bishop 
of  souls  to  defend  this  act  against  Satan's  cunning  and  to 
grant  that  the  good  cause  might  not  suffer  through  me  or 
mine.  After  service  the  elders  came  to  my  house  and  con- 
gratulated me  with  much  feeling  on  the  sermon  delivered  by 
my  son.  I  thanked  them,  but  no  one  knoweth  what  is  the 
state  of  my  mind  in  anything  of  this  sort,  since  I  am  slow  to 
believe  or  trust  in  any  good,  either  in  myself  or  in  my  own, 
save  what  God's  grace  and  mercy  give.  I  could  not  take 
it  ill  in  my  brethren  in  Christ  that  they  secretly,  out  of  love 
to  the  cause,  said  to  each  other,  '  God  be  praised !  If  the  old 
man  should  depart,  Providence  has  sent  us  a  young  substi- 
tute who  in  case  of  need  may  assist  and  comfort  us.'  Sub- 
sequently Peter  preached  several  times  in  Barren  Hill  and 
Pikestown.  I  do  not  cease  to  supply  him  with  the  needful 
spiritual  medicine  serviceable  for  purification  and  healing, 
which  I  hope  he  will  use.  At  the  end  of  April  I  was  'neces- 
sitated to  send  him  to  the  above-mentioned  vacant  charges 
which  Pastor  Schertlin  had  served  before  his  death  [Macun- 
gie  and  neighborhood],  and  from  there  to  New  Germantown 
and  Bedminster  in  Jersey.  Here  he  preached  in  German  and 
English,  and  was  quite  acceptable  to  both  parties.  I  my- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  42$ 

self  never  heard  him  preach,  but  I  criticised  all  his  compo- 
sitions, though  I  found  nothing  to  censure,  as  he  4  ploughs 
with  his  heifer,'  Dr.  Wr,"  [Wrangel].  In  the  same  year  a 
number  of  Christianized  Indians  settled  on  the  frontiers  be- 
tween New  York  and  Pennsylvania  petitioned  the  military 
authorities  to  establish  schools  among  them,  since  mission- 
aries had  labored  among  them  with  some  success.  Richard 
Peters  proposed  Christian  Streit,  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  born 
1749,  whom  Muhlenberg  after  his  graduation  at  the  Philadel- 
phia college  had  taken  to  his  house,  and  who  with  Peter 
enjoyed  his  and  Wrangel's  instruction;  was  licensed  in  1769 
to  preach  to  the  congregations  at  Greenwich  and  vicinity  in 
New  Jersey  and  at  Easton,  Pa.,  was  ordained  Oct.  25,  1770, 
had  during  the  War  of  Independence  a  call  to  a  military  chap- 
laincy; served  (1778-82)  the  Lutheran  church  at  Charleston, 
S.  C.,  then,  until  1785,  the  New  Hanover  charge  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  then  the  one  at  Winchester,  Va.,  where  he  remained, 
exercising  much  wholesome  influence  upon  a  large  sphere, 
until  his  death,  March  10,  1812.  Peters  also  proposed  Peter 
Miihlenberg,  certainly  not  without  a  belief  in  his  ability,  yet 
also  keeping  in  mind  the  fact  that  the  memory  of  his  grand- 
father, Conrad  Weiser,  was  cherished  by  the  Indians  in  that 
part  of  the  country,  that  they  considered  him  their  friend  and 
counsellor,  and  that  they  had  adopted  him  into  their  nation — 
an  honor  rarely  bestowed.  It  seems  that  neither  of  these 
young  men  was  unwilling  to  accept  the  call  to  the  Indians, 
but  their  services  were  needed  in  a  field  nearer  to  them. 

Peter  Miihlenberg  was  examined  at  the  synodical  conven- 
tion, June  20,  1769,  licensed,  and  continued  to  labor  in  the 
congregations  of  New  Germantown,  Bedminster,  etc.  in  New 
Jersey,  which  had  for  some  time  desired  him  as  an  assistant 
or  a  substitute  for  his  father,  who  was  still  the  acknowledged 
pastor  of  the  charge.  He  sent  regular  reports  to  his  father 
of  his  labors,  and  it  seems  that  his  pastoral  work  was  indeed 
a  work  of  love  with  him  and  gave  him  much  satisfaction.  On 
the  occasion  of  Helmuth's  marriage,  in  1770,  he  composed 
poetical  congratulations  in  German,  and  his  father,  to  whom 


426  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

he  sent  his  verses  for  criticism,  fully  acknowledged  the  good 
intentions,  but  says :  "As  I  found  that  he  has  the  gift  of 
rhyming,  but  not  that  of  poetry,  according  to  the  present 
elevated  taste,  I  kept  them  back,  triti  proverbii  hand  immcinor: 
Si  tacuisses,  philosophus  mansisses"  In  the  same  year  (Nov. 
6th)  Peter  was  married  to  Anna  Barbara  Meyer  of  Philadel- 
phia. Of  his  children,  only  two  sons  and  a  daughter  survived 
him.  Their  descendants  are  found  in  most  honorable  posi- 
tions. These  two  sons,  both  Lutherans,  were  Major  Peter 
Miihlenberg,  U.  S.  A.,  father  of  Francis  P.  Miihlenberg,  major 
U.  S.  A.,  who  entered  Vicksburg  with  General  Grant's  army 
at  the  surrender  of  the  city,  and  Francis  L.  Miihlenberg,  law- 
yer and  member  of  Congress  from  Ohio. 

In  the  spring  of  the  following  year  Peter  Miihlenberg 
received  a  letter  which  in  its  consequences  unexpectedly 
caused  an  entire  change  in  his  career,  and  which  we  give 
to  our  readers : 

"  REV.  SIR  :  I  have  been  requested  by  the  vestry  of  a  vacant 
charge  in  Virginia  to  use  my  endeavors  to  find  a  person  of  an 
unexceptionable  character,  either  ordained  or  desirous  of  ob- 
taining ordination  in  the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  England, 
who  is  capable  of  preaching  both  in  the  English  and  in  the 
German  languages.  The  Living,  as  established  by  the  Laws 
of  the  Land  with  Perquisites  is  of  the  value  of  Two  hundred 
and  Fifty  Pounds  Pennsylvania  currency,  with  a  Parsonage 
House  and  a  Farm  of  at  least  Two  hundred  Acres  of  Ex- 
tremely Good  Land  with  every  other  convenient  Out  House 
belonging  to  the  same,  which  will  render  it  very  convenient 
for  a  Gentleman's  Seat.  And  having  just  now  received  a 
Character  and  Information  of  You  from  Mr.  John  Vanorden 
of  Brunswick,  I  am  very  inclinable  to  believe,  You  would 
fully  answer  the  expectations  of  the  people  of  that  Parish ; 
the  Gentleman  of  whom  I  have  had  information  does  not 
know,  whether  You  are  ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  London 
or  not.  However,  be  that  as  it  will,  if  You  can  come  well 
recommended  to  the  Vestry,  they  will  recommend  You  in 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  427 

such  a  manner  as  to  make  Your  ordination  certain.  If  You 
should  think  those  Proposals  worth  Your  acceptance,  I  shall 
be  glad  You  would  write  me  an  Answer  to  be  left  in  Phila- 
delphia at  the  Sign  of  the  Cross  Keys,  where  I  shall  stay  a 
few  days  on  my  return  home,  when,  if  I  find  You  inclined  to 
accept  of  this  Living,  You  may  expect  to  hear  further  from 
me,  directed  to  the  care  of  the  Gentleman,  of  whom  I  have 
been  favored  with  the  information,  which  I  have  received. 
"  I  am,  tho'  unacquainted,  Rev.  Sir,  Y.  Ob.  Serv., 

"JAMES  WOOD. 

"NEW  YORK,  4th  May,  1771. 

"  P.  S.  If  You  should  determine  to  go  to  London,  I  make 
no  Doubt  of  the  Vestry  advancing  sufficient  Sum  to  defray 
the  expenses." 

James  Wood  was  a  justice  of  Winchester,  Va.  His  letter 
had  a  decisive  effect.  Soon  after  receiving  the  invitation  Peter 
Miihlenberg  visited  the  field  of  labor  in  Virginia,  furnished 
with  an  introduction  by  the  Rev.  Rich.  Peters,  D.  D.,  in  the 
strongest  terms  recommending  him  as  a  "  young  and  promis- 
ing Divine,  who  is  of  amiable  disposition  and  has  great  Es- 
teem amongst  both  the  Lutherans  and  English,"  and  promis- 
ing similar  letters  in  his  behalf  from  himself,  Dr.  Smith,  and 
Rev.  Duche  to  bishops  and  archbishops  in  England.  It  ap- 
pears that  the  Lutherans  who  in  large  numbers  had  emigrated 
from  Pennsylvania  to  Virginia  and  settled  in  the  valley  of  the 
Blue  Ridge,  especially  in  and  about  Woodstock,  were  much 
pleased  with  the  candidate  for  their  vacant  parish,  and  that  he 
also  felt  greatly  attracted  by  the  surroundings  to  which  he 
was  invited.  Bidding  farewell  to  his  congregations  in  New 
Jersey,  he  prepared  himself  to  go  to  England  to  receive  Epis- 
copal ordination,  without  which,  in  Virginia,  he  would  have 
no  legal  standing  as  a  clergyman.  He  did  not  intend  to 
change  any  of  his  convictions,  and  the  Lutheran  synod,  to 
which  he  belonged,  did  not  consider  him  as  separating  him- 
self from  its  connection,  which  to  us  appears  rather  anom- 
alous. He  sailed  for  England  March  2,  17/2.  The  document 


428  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

of  ordination  given  to  him,  and  preserved  by  his  descendants, 
states  that  Peter  Miihlenberg,  "  our  beloved  in  Christ,  a  lit- 
erate person,  of  whose  virtuous  and  pious  life  and  conversa- 
tion and  competent  learning  in  Holy  Scriptures  we  were  well 
assured,"  was  on  Tuesday,  the  2ist  of  April,  1772,  ordained 
by  Edmund  of  Ely  in  Mayfair  Chapel,  Westminster,  London, 
to  the  holy  order  of  deacon,  according  to  the  manner  and 
form  prescribed  and  used  by  the  Church  of  England,  "  hav- 
ing first  in  our  presence  taken  the  oaths  appointed  by  law  to 
be  taken  for  and  instead  of  the  oath  of  supremacy,  and  also 
having  freely  and  voluntarily  subscribed  to  the  Thirty-Nine 
Articles  of  Religion  and  to  the  three  articles  of  the  Thirty- 
six  Canons."  He  was  ordained  as  a  priest  April  23d,  at  the 
King's  Chapel  of  St.  James,  by  the  bishop  of  London,  in  com- 
pany with  Rev.  Braidfoot  of  Virginia  and  Rev.  White,  later 
the  highly-honored  bishop  of  Pennsylvania.*  In  the  fall  of 
1772,  Peter  Miihlenberg  settled  at  Woodstock,  and  carried 
on  his  pastoral  labors  to  the  great  satisfaction  of  his  parish- 
ioners. There  is  no  proof  that  he  ever  received  ordination  as 
a  Lutheran  pastor  and  a  voting  member  of  the  Lutheran  min- 
isterium.  That,  however,  in  spite  of  his  abnormal  position, 
he  was  considered  a  Lutheran  minister  may  be  gathered,  not 
only  from  the  fact  that  he  served  a  Lutheran  charge,  but  also 
from  this,  that  in  behalf  of  the  Lutheran  synod  he  visited 
Lutheran  congregations  east  of  Woodstock — or  Staufferstadt, 
as  Krug,  who  during  his  tour  to  Strassburg  visited  here  and 
comforted  many  with  the  prospect  that  Father  Miihlenberg 
might  pay  them  a  visit  when  his  son  Peter  would  move  there, 
calls  it — and  investigated  the  case  of  Rev.  J.  Schwarbach,  who 
as  a  licensed  Lutheran  minister  officiated  in  congregations  in 
Augusta  county,  Va.  That  Peter  Mtihlenberg,  when  the  great 
political  excitement  broke  out  in  full  force  against  England, 
and  resulted  in  establishing  the  American  provinces  as  an 
independent  country  and  nation,  was  led  by  his  patriotism  to 
change  the  service  of  the  ecclesia  militans  for  that  of  patria 
militant,  that  as  an  officer  of  the  Continental  army  he  rose  to 

*  This  we  maintain,  notwithstanding  other  affirmations. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  429 

high  honor  and  afterward  was  elected  vice-president  of  the 
State  of  Pennsylvania  and  to  other  responsible  offices  of  the 
State  and  of  the  United  States, — these  in  their  detail  belong 
to  the  history  of  his  native  country,  and,  interesting  as  the 
facts  are,  cannot  here  receive  special  attention.  We  deem  it 
proper,  however,  to  add  that  the  relation  between  himself  and 
his  father  was  not  seriously  affected  by  Peter  Muhlenberg's 
unexpected  step  from  the  pastoral  to  the  military  office, 
though  it  was  undoubtedly  against  the  feelings  of  the  father, 
who  in  a  letter  to  his  friend  Sebast.  Fabricius,  at  Halle,  says 
that  his  writing  and  warning  from  the  great  distance  had  been 
in  vain.  He  could  fully  appreciate  the  motives  influencing 
his  son,  and  could  understand  the  duties  thereby  incurred  to 
such  an  extent  that  in  a  letter  to  him  of  Nov.  20,  1778,  when 
the  son's  wife  was  in  a  condition  which  made  the  presence  of 
her  husband  exceedingly  desirable,  he  said  that,  notwithstand- 
ing this,  the  duties  of  his  responsible  position  had  now  the 
first  claim  upon  him,  and  that  family  affairs  could  not  free 
him  from  that  claim.  At  the  close  of  the  letter  he  admon- 
ishes the  son  not  to  cease  to  be  a  Christian  in  his  present 
relation,  and  adds  the  remarkable  sentiment  that  a  soldier 
unless  he  be  a  Christian  will  finally  prove  a  coward.  Peter 
Miihlenberg  certainly  never  was  found  to  be  a  coward  in  the 
Revolutionary  War — in  which  he  fought  and  suffered  from 
its  commencement  to  its  close — nor  at  any  other  time.  He 
died,  as  he  had  lived,  in  the  Lutheran  faith,  Oct.  I,  1807,  at 
Philadelphia.  His  mortal  remains  rest  with  those  of  his 
parents  on  the  east  side  of  the  venerable  Augustus  Church 
at  Providence.  His  tombstone  says  that  "  he  was  brave  in 
the  field,  faithful  in  the  cabinet,  honorable  in  all  his  transac- 
tions— a  sincere  friend  and  an  honest  man." 

During  the  months  of  June  and  July,  1770,  Father  Miihlen- 
berg had  undertaken  a  tour  to  the  New  Jersey  congregations 
of  New  Germantown,  Bedminster,  etc. ;  tried  while  there,  under 
considerable  difficulties  and  without  any  favorable  results,  a 
recently-discovered  mineral  spring,  and  found  his  son  Peter 
in  full  activity  as  his  assistant  in  the  pastoral  work ;  then  he 


43O  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

visited  Easton  and  neighboring  congregations,  proceeded  to 
Allentown,  where  Friderici  (sometimes  found  Frederick),  his 
former  fellow-student  at  Gottingen,  then  lived  in  straitened  cir- 
cumstances ;  visited  a  relative  of  his  family  six  miles  distant, 
and  spent  some  days  at  Macungie,  Salisbury,  Allemaengel 
(Albany),  Rosenthal,  and  White  Hall,  in  some  places  instruct- 
ing the  young,  holding  public  services,  and  encouraging  his 
younger  brethren  whom  he  met  there  in  their  pastoral  field 
of  labor — Chr.  Streit  at  Easton,  Van  Buskirk  at  Macungie, 
Jung  (Young)  at  White  Hall.  It  appears  that  after  his  return 
to  Philadelphia,  on  July  1 3th,  he  had  intended  during  the 
autumn  to  visit  New  York,  but  on  Sept.  22d  his  sons  Fred- 
erick Augustus  Conrad  and  G.  Henry  Ernest,  returning  from 
Halle  after  an  absence  of  more,  than  six  years,  landed,  in  com- 
pany with  the  Rev.  John  Christopher  Kunze,  at  New  York, 
where  they  paid  their  respects  to  Hausihl  and  Gerock,  and 
finally  arrived  (Sept.  26th)  at  Philadelphia.  These  two  sons 
had  faithfully  attended  to  their  classical  and  theological  stud- 
ies, and  enjoyed  the  good  opinion  of  their  superiors  at  Halle. 
Rev.  Dr.  Knapp,  after  the  death  of  G.  A.  Francke  (died  Sept. 
2,  1769)  praeses  of  the  Halle  institutions,  writes  (Apr.  26, 
1771)  to  their  father  that,  having  learned  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
had  begun  to  influence  their  hearts,  and  that  now  they  had 
already  entered  upon  pastoral  work  in  the  Pennsylvania  con- 
gregations, he  deems  it  proper  to  defray  their  travelling  ex- 
penses out  of  charitable  contributions  collected  for  the  mis- 
sions in  Pennsylvania.  Kunze's  travelling  expenses  were 
defrayed  by  Ziegenhagen  in  London. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  the  scholastic  course  at 
Halle  these  two  sons  were  trained  as  having  the  ministerial 
office  in  view.  This  was  apparently  also  in  the  mind  of  the 
father,  who  sent  directions  to  Halle  that  his  two  sons  there, 
in  addition  to  the  studium  catecheticum,  should  especially  be 
made  proficient  in  singing,  in  the  playing  of  chorals,  and  in 
the  science  of  thorough-bass,  which  he  knew  would  be  of 
great  use  for  the  pastoral  office :  he  adds  as  a  special  motive 
that  he  had  in  this  country  earned  his  first  half  year's  board- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  43  I 

ing  by  giving  instruction  in  music,  had  gained  friends  by  his 
musical  attainments,  and  had  so  favorably  impressed  Father 
Conrad  Weiser's  mind  "  that  he  did  not  object  to  my  marry- 
ing his  daughter,  since  I  had  during  my  first  visit  at  his  house 
played  for  him  on  his  cabinet-organ  melodies  of  the  Halle 
hymns  and  accompanied  them  by  singing."  When  the  sons 
arrived  here  they  were  considered  candidates  for  the  sacred 
office.  As  such  they  were  invited  (Oct.  7th)  to  hold  public 
services  at  Zion  Church — one  in  the  morning,  the  other  in  the 
evening.  Of  course  the  whole  town  knew  of  them  and  had 
heard  of  their  return  to  their  native  country,  and  curiosity  on 
that  occasion  reached  its  acme.  The  church  was  crowded. 
Father  Miihlenberg's  request  that  Hon.  Schoemaker,  the 
mayor  of  the  city,  would  station  two  constables  at  the 
church  on  that  day — a  request  willingly  granted — was  not 
unreasonable,  since  many  different  elements  of  the  popula- 
tion were  represented.  The  sons  acquitted  themselves  quite 
creditably.  Both  of  them  were  ordained  at  the  meeting  of 
synod  Oct.  25,  1770,  as  collaborators  ministerii,  or  assistant 
ministers — an  act  which  (especially  in  the  case  of  the  younger 
one,  G.  Henry  Ernest,  at  that  time  not  yet  fully  seventeen  years 
of  age,  while  the  elder  one  was  not  yet  quite  twenty-one  years), 
even  considering  the  pressure  of  circumstances,  can  hardly  be 
defended.  We  are  informed  about  the  tentamen  which  Gotth. 
Henry  Ernest  first  had  to  undergo.  Voigt  was  appointed  ex- 
animator.  The  candidate  had  to  translate  the  first  Psalm  from 
Hebrew  into  Latin,  and  in  the  same  language  to  answer  exe- 
getical  and  analytical  questions.  His  knowledge  of  the  He- 
brew gave  uncommon  satisfaction  to  the  ministerium.  After- 
ward the  first  chapter  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  was  treated 
in  the  same  manner.  The  result  of  the  examination  was  of 
such  a  character  that  doubts  arising  from  the  youth  of  the 
candidate  no  longer  had  any  influence.  His  older  brother's 
examination  seems  to  have  given  no  less  satisfaction.  He, 
Fred.  Aug.  Conrad,  had  at  an  academic  festivity  at  Halle 
delivered  an  oration  in  English.  During  their  protracted 
absence  from  America  they  had  both,  however,  become  so 


432  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

thoroughly  Germanized  that  in  December,  1772,  in  a  letter 
to  his  father,  the  older  complains  that  he  could  not  yet  with 
proper  facility  use  the  English.  We  know,  however,  that  in 
the  course  of  time  this  defect  was  completely  removed. 

Before  the  end  of  1770,  Frederick  Aug.  Con.  Muhlenberg 
moved,  with  his  brother-in-law,  Rev.  Chr.  Em.  Schulze,  to 
Tulpehoken  as  his  assistant,  and  had  the  SchaefTertown  con- 
gregation under  his  special  pastoral  care,  at  the  same  time 
serving  a  considerable  number  of  the  Lebanon  congregation, 
who  were  dissatisfied  with  the  services  of  J.  C.  Stoever,  who 
died  suddenly  in  1779.  He  was  married  to  a  daughter  of 
Fred.  Schaefer,  a  member  of  the  vestry  of  the  Philadelphia 
congregation.  During  the  year  1773  he  paid  a  visit  to  New 
York,  and  received  a  call  from  Christ  Church,  then  vacant  on 
account  of  Gerock's  removal  to  Baltimore.  It  seems  that  in 
the  same  year  he  settled  in  New  York,  where  he  was  quite 
successful  as  a  pastor  and  was  held  in  good  esteem.  In  a 
letter  of  Jan.  IO,  1774,  he  informs  his  father,  then  in  Georgia, 
that  the  Lutheran  ministers  in  the  province  of  New  York 
intended  to  hold  a  conference  in  the  month  of  April.  This 
we  may  consider  the  beginning  of  the  formation  of  the  min- 
isterium  of  New  York  as  a  separate  organization,  which  was, 
however,  not  formally  established  before  1786.  When  the 
war  broke  out  in  1776,  and  English  troops  were  concentrated 
at  New  York  and  English  war-ships  were  expected  there,  F. 
A.  C.  Muhlenberg  first  sent  his  family  to  Philadelphia,  and, 
following  himself,  was  there  on  the  world-renowned  Fourth 
of  July.  He  then  joined  his  father  (who,  without  having 
resigned  the  Philadelphia  congregation,  had  retired  to  Prov- 
idence), assisted  him  for  a  time  in  the  care  of  that  charge,  and 
in  1777  moved  to  New  Hanover  to  take  pastoral  care  of  that 
part  of  the  field,  and  soon  afterward  of  Oley  and  New  Go- 
shenhoppen.  The  position  of  a  pastor  was  in  those  turbulent 
times  anything  but  an  enviable  one.  Financial  relations  were 
altogether  disturbed ;  the  people  had  to  bear  burdens  before 
unknown.  In  addition  to  this,  views  on  political  questions 
diverged  greatly,  and,  no  matter  to  what  party  a  man  be- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  433 

longed,  he  could  not  avoid  having  opponents.  Pastors 
especially  had  greatly  to  suffer  under  such  circumstances. 
F.  A.  C.  Muhlenberg  was  hardly  able  in  his  position  to  eke 
out  an  existence,  and  had  to  look  out  for  a  change  to  sup- 
port his  family.  To  the  English  he  was  well  known  as  a  sup- 
porter of  the  American  cause.  His  friends  exerted  themselves 
in  his  behalf.  It  was  then  said  that  the  Germans  ought  to 
have  a  representative  of  their  particular  interests  in  Congress ; 
for  this  position  he  seemed  to  be  peculiarly  well  qualified. 
March  2,  1779,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  same,  and  in 
August  quitted  the  pastoral  office  and  entered  into  the  polit- 
ical arena,  in  which  he  remained,  serving  the  United  States 
and  his  own  native  State,  enjoying  the  highest  regard  on 
account  of  his  intellectual  and  moral  qualities,  and  on  vari- 
ous occasions  being  called  to  the  highest  posts  of  responsi- 
bility and  honor.  He  died,  fifty-one  years  old,  June  4,  1801. 
His  father,  not  insensible  of  the  honor  done  to  his  son  by  his 
election  as  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress  and  afterward 
as  Speaker  of  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  and  head  of  the 
council  of  censors,  nevertheless  had  misgivings  about  his  enter- 
ing into  the  political  field,  and  (Nov.  21,  1780)  wrote  to  him,  in 
his  usual  somewhat  quaint  and  humorous  style,  that  he  had 
learned,  not  without  some  fright,  that  vox  populi  ex  parte  had 
now  "  made  him  a  driver  in  these  critical  times  to  guide  the 
car  of  state  through  narrow  defiles,  with  precipices  on  the 
right  and  on  the  left,  amid  storms  from  above."  Vox  populi\ 
he  says,  is  very  variable  (Acts  xiv.  II,  12,  13,  19;  xix.  28). 
He  admonishes  his  son  to  pray  with  penitent  and  fervent 
supplications  for  more  than  ordinary  wisdom  from  on  high, 
and  by  fasting  to  strive  to  retain  it,  like  David  and  others ; 
otherwise,  a  terrible  fall  might  ensue,  to  the  injury  of  chil- 
dren and  of  children's  children.  To  be  a  fellow-passenger 
on  the  car  he  considered  dangerous  enough  in  these  times ; 
much  more  so  the  position  of  the  driver  under  circumstances 
"  when  the  most  experienced  do  not  know  how  to  get  through 
without  upsetting.''  We  have  little  doubt  that  in  the  ups 
and  downs  of  his  political  career  the  son  sometimes  recalled 


434  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

the  words  of  his  father.  When  he  was  wanted  in  Ebenezer, 
Georgia,  it  for  a  while  seemed  as  if  the  gates  of  the  sanc- 
tuary would  reopen  to  regain  the  son  for  its  services.  The 
people  there  already  began  to  hope  that  they  would  have  him 
as  their  pastor,  and  to  repair  their  church-building ;  circum- 
stances, however,  interfered  to  prevent  it.  But  his  parents 
rejoiced  when  he  came  at  intervals,  with  his  wife  and  seven 
children,  to  pay  his  respects,  and,  gathered  together,  they  all 
as  one  chorus  sang  the  well-known  old  church-hymns  and 
soul- stirring  melodies.  And  the  aged  father  and  grandfather 
never  failed  to  note  such  incidents  in  his  diary. 

Gotthilf  Henry  Ernest  Muhlenberg,  the  youngest  of  the 
three  brothers  who  grew  up  to  manhood,  was  for  a  time 
after  his  ordination  the  assistant  of  his  father  in  the  Phil- 
adelphia charge.  Throughout  his  career  he  remained  true 
to  his  ordination  vow.  It  is  strange  that  for  some  time 
his  education  at  Halle  gave  more  trouble  than  that  of  his 
elder  brother,  Frederick  A.  Conrad.  Even  (July  12,  1766) 
after  the  two  brothers  had  spent  three  years  in  the  Halle 
institutions,  Dr.  G.  A.  Francke  says  in  one  of  his  letters 
that  the  older  of  the  two  was  of  a  much  more  manageable 
disposition  than  the  younger,  who  sometimes  occasioned  con- 
siderable difficulty  in  matters  of  submission  to  authority.  We 
cannot  forget  that  G.  Henry  E.  was  a  child  of  ten  years  when 
he  was  sent  to  Halle,  that  he  was  without  the  guiding  and  ad- 
vising influence  of  a.  mother,  and  that  to  the  young  American 
boy,  accustomed  in  his  childhood  to  a  much  larger  range  of 
personal  liberty,  the  strict  rules  and  the  rigorous  discipline  of 
the  Halle  schools  naturally  appeared  very  irksome.  But  the 
same  letter  states  that  Henry  had  a  stronger  intellectual  en- 
dowment than  his  brother,  and  that  there  was  no  complaint  as 
to  his  progress  in  study.  Sept.  5,  1767,  Francke  again  testi- 
fies to  the  good  behavior  of  the  older  brother,  and  says  that 
the  younger  also  gives  less  cause  for  dissatisfaction,  and,  hav- 
ing good  mental  faculties  and  much  application,  makes  good 
progress  in  his  studies,  and  in  this  respect  surpasses  the  other 
— shows,  however,  an  inclination  to  be  headstrong  and  ambi- 


435 

tious.  Both,  he  adds,  are  at  the  head  of  their  respective 
classes.  May  20,  1769,  Helmuth,  whom  after  his  arrival  in 
the  New  World  Father  Miihlenberg  had  conducted  to  Lan- 
caster, received  there  a  letter  from  Henry  from  Halle,  wherein, 
among  other  things,  the  writer  states  that  he  began  to  feej  the 
influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  his  soul — information  than 
which  no  news  could  have  been  more  welcome  to  the  friend 
and  to  the  father. 

The  son's  services  to  the  congregation  at  Philadelphia  were 
quite  acceptable  when,  toward  the  end  of  1770,  he  entered 
upon  his  duties  as  an  assistant  of  his  father  and  of  Kunze,  his 
brother-in-law.  From  January  to  April,  1772,  Henry  labored 
in  the  churches  in  New  Jersey,  which  his  brother  Peter  had 
vacated,  and  then  returned  to  Philadelphia.  When,  in  1772, 
the  father,  with  Kunze,  visited  the  synodical  conference  at 
Lancaster,  and  when  both  of  them  were  absent  from  Sept. 
25th  to  Oct.  8th,  all  the  pastoral  care  of  the  large  congrega- 
tion devolved  on  G.  Henry  E.  Miihlenberg,  then  nineteen 
years  old.  After  returning  the  father,  was  glad  to  state  in 
his  diary :  "  From  all  sides  I  hear  that  my  son  Henry  per- 
formed during  our  absence  the  duties  of  his  office  to  the  sat- 
isfaction of  the  people,  though  much  was  laid  upon  him,  and, 
in  addition  to  all  other  official  acts,  he  had  to  attend  to  twelve 
burials  of  children."  In  the  following  year  he  received  a  call 
from  the  New  Jersey  congregations,  New  Germantown,  etc. 
After  Peter  Miihlenberg's  departure  to  Virginia  in  the  preceding 
year,  Father  Muhlenberg  had  made  efforts  to  fill  the  vacancy, 
but  had  not  succeeded.  Being  still  the  regular  pastor  or  rec- 
tor of  the  charge,  he  felt  his  responsibility,  and  in  April  and 
May,  1773,  paid  a  protracted  visit  there;  and  the  result  was 
that,  with  their  consent,  the  united  vestries  of  those  congrega- 
tions gave  to  G.  Henry  E.  Muhlenberg  a  call  to  labor  among 
them  as  the  substitute,  or  adjunctus,  of  his  father.  He  held, 
however,  from  December,  1772,  in  Philadelphia  a  position  of 
an  official  character,  as  the  vestry  there,  with  the  consent  of 
the  congregation,  had  formally  elected  him  assistant  pastor  in 
the  Philadelphia  congregation  and  at  St.  Peter's,  Barren  Hill. 


436  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

But  now  he  accepted  the  call  to  New  Jersey,  where  the  field 
of  labor  was  all  his  own,  and  where  he  could  prove  of  what 
mettle  he  was.  He  acquitted  himself  here  to  the  great  satis- 
faction of  the  people,  but  had,  meanwhile,  not  been  forgotten 
at  Philadelphia.  The  hope  that  Schulze  would  return  to 
Philadelphia,  where  he  stood  in  the  highest  esteem,  had  to  be 
given  up,  though  it  arose  again  a  few  years  later,  and  with  no 
better  result.  A  regular  third  pastor  was  needed ;  Father 
Miihlenberg's  strength  was  naturally  decreasing  with  his 
advancing  years,  while  the  demands  of  the  congregation 
were  increasing,  and  Kunze  devoted  a  part  of  his  time  to 
other  duties.  It  was  therefore  (March  23,  1774)  resolved 
that  G.  Henry  E.  Miihlenberg  should  be  proposed  to  the  con- 
gregation by  the  vestry  as  the  third  regular  pastor,  and  that 
on  Easter  Monday,  Apr.  4th,  a  regular  election  should  be  held. 
On  Apr.  5th  the  rector,  Father  Miihlenberg,  was  informed  that 
his  son  Henry  was  elected  third  pastor  by  two  hundred  votes 
out  of  two  hundred  and  fifty-three.  This  election  was  a  pos- 
itive and  strong  proof  that  G.  Henry  E.  Miihlenberg,  who 
was  then  almost  twenty-one  years  of  age,  could  with  much 
encouragement  re-enter  upon  the  Philadelphia  field  of  labor. 
Having  accepted  the  call,  and  carrying  with  him  most  satis- 
factory testimonials  from  the  New  Jersey  congregations,  he 
moved  to  Philadelphia  and  entered  upon  his  pastoral  duties, 
which  were  interrupted  by  his  temporary  withdrawal  to  Prov- 
idence when,  during  the  war,  the  English  occupied  Phila- 
delphia from  Sept.  26,  1777,  until  June  18,  1778.  The  young 
Miihlenbergs  were  in  those  days  as  a  thorn  in  the  flesh  to  the 
English  and  to  the  traitors  to  the  cause  of  freedom.  Having 
returned  to  the  city,  he  continued  his  labors  until  April,  1779, 
when,  under  circumstances*  to  which  at  a  future  period  allu- 
sion will  be  made,  he  abruptly  resigned,  and  on  the  I5th  of 
that  month  delivered  his  farewell  sermon.  He  had  already  a 
call  from  the  New  Hanover  congregation.  When  Helmuth 
was  called  to  Philadelphia  from  Lancaster,  and  Schulze  of 
Tulpehoken  declined  the  call  to  Lancaster,  G.  Henry  E.  Miihl- 
enberg received  at  the  meeting  of  synod  at  Tulpehoken  the 


HENRY  MELCHIOR   MUHLENBERG.  437 

call  to  the  latter  place,  and  in  1780  moved  to  that  locality, 
where,  at  the  head  of  a  large  congregation  and  with  his  labors 
attended  by  many  blessings,  he  enjoyed  the  highest  esteem, 
continuing  until  his  death,  May  23,  1815.  While  he  was  very 
conscientious  in  the  performance  of  his  pastoral  duties — of 
which  his  many  manuscripts  give  ample  proof — he  devoted 
his  leisure  hours  to  the  study  of  the  natural  sciences,  and 
especially  to  the  science  of  botany.  In  this  latter  branch  he 
excelled  to  a  high  degree.  It  has  been  stated  by  Prof.  Dr.  J. 
M.  Maisch  of  the  Philadelphia  College  of  Pharmacy,  in  an 
address  delivered  May  I,  1886,  that  G.  H.  E.  Miihlenberg's 
interest  in  botany  dated  from  the  time  of  his  retirement  from 
Philadelphia  to  the  country.  To  his  father  such  studies  may 
have  appeared  to  be  no  more  than  dilettanteism,  and  he  gives  • 
vent  to  his  feelings  in  a  letter  of  Apr.  3,  1780,  saying  that  he 
had  learned  that  his  son  Henry  had  already  no  less  than  sixty 
catechumens  under  his  care  at  Lancaster,  and  adding,  "  this  is 
more  fruitful  and  blessed  than  to  collect  varianten  and  herbs." 
Whether,  with  theologians,  he  understands  under  varianten 
diverse  readings  of  the  old  manuscripts  of  the  Bible  we  leave 
undecided.  But  the  collecting  of  plants  by  his  son  was  in- 
deed connected  with  solid  study.  He  was  acknowledged  as 
maintaining  in  his  time  the  highest  rank  in  that  science ; 
various  plants  discovered  and  classified  by  him  were  named  in 
honor  of  him ;  he  was  in  correspondence  with  the  first  author- 
ities in  that  field  of  knowledge  in  Europe  and  in  America, 
and  in  its  interests  was  visited  by  men  of  the  highest  renown 
— among  them,  Alexander  von  Humboldt  and  Aime  Bon- 
pland  on  their  return  from  South  America  and  Mexico. 
Deputies  from  the  emperor  of  Austria  sent  to  this  country 
paid  him  their  respects  and  with  attention  viewed  his  botan- 
ical and  mineralogical  collections.  Many  literary,  philosoph- 
ical, and  scientific  associations  were  proud  to  count  him  among 
their  members.  The  University  of  Pennsylvania  honored  him 
with  the  degree  of  master  of  arts ;  the  College  of  New  Jer- 
sey, at  Princeton,  with  that  of  doctor  of  divinity.  But  his 
interest  in  his  pastoral  office  and  his  love  for  the  spiritual  work 


438  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

are  most  apparent  when  we  read  his  letters  from  Lancaster 
addressed  to  his  aged  father,  informing  him  of  his  pastoral 
experiences,  his  studies,  and  his  efforts  to  prove  himself  a 
faithful  steward.  Of  his  descendants  we  mention  his  sons, 
F.  A.  Miihlenberg,  M.  D.,  who  as  a  physician  and  citizen  stood 
in  the  highest  esteem  at  Lancaster,  and  the  Hon.  H.  A.  Miihl- 
enberg, ambassador  of  the  United  States  to  Austria;  and  his 
grandsons,  H.  H.  Miihlenberg,  M.  D.,  for  many  years  entrusted 
with  a  highly-responsible  position  at  Reading,  Pa.,  the  Hon. 
H.  A.  Miihlenberg,  State  Senator  of  Pennsylvania  and  mem- 
ber of  Congress,  and  Rev.  F.  A.  Miihlenberg,  D.  D.,  formerly 
president  of  Miihlenberg  College,  at  Allentown,  Pa.,  now  in- 
cumbent of  the  chair  of  Greek  Literature  in  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania.  We  add  that  Rev.  W.  A.  Miihlenberg,  D.  D., 
well  known  as  the  author  of  the  hymn  "'I  would  not  live 
alway  "  and  as  a  Christian  philanthropist,  was  a  grandson  of 
Hon.  Fred.  Aug.  Con.  Miihlenberg. 

John  Christopher  Kunze,  the  companion  of  the  two  younger 
sons  of  H.  M.  Miihlenberg  on  their  return  to  their  native  land, 
was,  of  all  the  missionaries  sent  from  Halle  to  Pennsylvania, 
one  of  the  most  gifted  and  the  most  scholarly.  In  church 
affairs  his  eye  encompassed  a  large  range,  and  with  a  wide 
intellect  he  combined  an  energetic  will.  He  was  born  at 
Artern,  not  far  from  Mansfeld,  but,  his  parents  moving  to 
Rosleben,  about  nine  miles  from  Artern,  he  here  received  the 
rudiments  of  his  education.  His  father  had  kept  an  inn  in 
connection  with  a  country  store  and  was  in  comfortable  cir- 
cumstances. All  this  changed  at  Rosleben,  and  the  change 
was  for  the  better.  Of  his  mother,  whom  death  soon  took 
away,  he  speaks,  in  a  fragment  of  an  autobiography  still  in 
possession  of  his  descendants,  in  the  highest  terms  and  with 
much  filial  affection  as  of  a  godly  woman  whose  love  of  God 
and  man,  sincerity,  and  other  excellences  of  a  truly  Christian 
character  left  a  deep  impression  upon  the  mind  of  her  chil- 
dren. It  seems  that  the  death  of  the  mother  served  to  im- 
prove the  spiritual  character  of  the  father.  A  wagoner  who 
once  for  a  night  lodged  in  the  house  gave  a  very  impressive 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  439 

description  of  the  order,  beauty,  and  godly  condition  which 
he  found  in  the  Orphan-House  at  Halle.  Kunze's  brother — 
then  a  child  five  years  old,  later  pastor  at  Nautschau  in  the 
Reuss  principality — attentively  listened  to  the  narrative,  and 
when  the  narrator  had  gone  most  pitifully  entreated  his 
parents  to  send  him  to  Halle.  And,  indeed,  after  some  time 
he  was  sent  there,  and  three  other  sons — among  them  the 
author  of  the  autobiographical  fragment — and  even  three 
daughters.  When  John  Christopher  had  gone  through  the 
preparatory  course  at  Halle  and  at  the  high  schools  at  Ros- 
leben  and  Merseburg,  he  devoted  three  years  to  the  study 
of  theology  at  Leipsic,  three  others  he  spent  as  teacher  in  the 
then  celebrated  classical  school  at  Klosterbergen  near  Magde- 
burg, and  one  year  at  Greitz  as  inspector  of  the  orphan-house 
in  this  town.  Here  the  call  to  America  came  to  him  through 
Rev.  J.  G.  Knapp,  D.  D.,  chairman  of  the  board  of  directors 
of  the  Halle  institutes.  With  the  two  young  Miihlenbergs 
he  left  Halle  May  5,  1770.  After  his  arrival  at  New  York 
(Sept.  22d)  efforts  were  made  to  keep  him  as  a  colleague  of 
Gerock  at  Christ  Church.  He  declined  on  that  occasion  to 
settle  at  New  York,  as  to  him,  when  ordained  at  Wernigerode, 
a  call  signed  by  Knapp  and  Ziegenhagen  was  given,  appoint- 
ing him  third  pastor  of  the  Philadelphia  congregation.  Schulze 
was  still  considered  second  pastor,  but  moved  to  Tulpehoken. 
And  now  Kunze  at  once  zealously  entered  upon  his  pastoral 
labors,  and  added  to  them  as  much  as  circumstances  demanded 
and  as  his  strength  permitted.  In  the  summer  of  1771  he  es- 
tablished a  household  of  his  own  by  marrying  Miihlenberg's 
daughter  Margaretta  Henrietta,  then  not  quite  twenty  years 
old.  After  his  arrival  he  had  been  for  a  quarter  of  a  year 
an  inmate  of  Miihlenberg's  house.  Already  in  the  synodical 
meeting  of  1769  the  desirableness  and  necessity  of  a  theolog- 
ical seminary  was  acknowledged ;  Kunze  soon  sought  to  sup- 
ply the  want.  At  his  instigation  a  society  was  formed  to  this 
end,  contributions  were  received,  and  on  Feb.  16,  1773,  the 
Philadelphia  Staatsanzcigcr  informed  the  public  of  the  open- 
ing of  the  school.  The  pastors  of  the  Lutheran  congregation — 


440  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF  , 

assisted  by  John  Chr.  Leps,  a  Dane,  who  himself  received  from 
Kunze  theological  instruction,  and  who  a  few  years  later 
officiated  as  a  pastor  at  Loonenburg  on  the  Hudson,  but  in 
1782  retired  upon  a  small  piece  of  ground  near  Macungie,  Pa. 
— were  to  give  instruction  in  the  preparatory  branches,  Latin, 
Greek,  Hebrew,  geography,  history,  mathematics,  elocution, 
composition,  and  in  the  German  and  the  English  language. 
The  design  at  that  time  was  to  prepare  young  men  for  the 
higher  study  of  theology.  In  the  following  year  a  lottery 
was  contemplated  to  enable  the  society  to  discharge  its  finan- 
cial obligations.  But  the  times  were  too  turbulent  to  favor  an 
institution  of  this  kind,  though  at  the  synodical  meeting  at 
Philadelphia  on  June  14,  1773,  a  public  examination  with 
thirteen  scholars  was  solemnly  held.  The  whole  enterprise 
came  to  an  end  in  1776.  The  following  years  afforded  Kunze 
little  pleasure.  Father  Miihlenberg  moved  in  1776  to  Prov- 
idence; his  son  Henry  followed  him  in  1777,  to  remain  until 
the  English  had  retired  from  Philadelphia.  Between  him, 
his  brother  Frederick  Aug.  Con.,  and  Kunze,  their  brother- 
in-law,  a  serious  rupture  soon  afterward  took  place.  Kunze 
made  formal  charges  against  Henry  before  Praeses  J.  N.  Kurtz. 
Henry  resigned  in  1779;  Kunze  was  left  alone  in  Philadelphia, 
as  Father  Miihlenberg  was  unable  to  give  much  assistance  and 
Schulze  refused  to  return.  When  Helmuth  of  Lancaster  was 
elected  at  Philadelphia  (Aug.  25,  1779)  the  prospects  seemed 
fair  for  pastors  and  for  congregation.  The  two  pastors  were 
uncommonly  able  men ;  both  held  positions,  also,  in  the  uni- 
versity as  professors.  Kunze  was  also  made  in  1783  a  doctor 
of  divinity — an  honor  given  to  Helmuth  two  years  later. 
But  on  various  points  there  was  a  difference  of  views.  Kunze, 
though  his  talent  and  his  zeal  were  acknowledged  and  though 
he  had  many  admirers,  had  opponents  in  the  congregation, 
and  in  1 784  he  accepted  a  call  to  Christ  Church  at  New  York, 
succeeded  in  uniting  with  it  the  remnants  of  the  old  Dutch 
congregation,  and  instilled  new  vitality  into  the  Lutheran 
cause  in  New  York.  He  was  farsighted  enough  to  see  that 
unless  Lutheranism  were  represented  in  the  pulpit  and  by 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  441 

congregations  in  the  English  language  it  could  have  no  future 
in  this  country.  That  his  efforts  in  this  direction  were  not 
crowned  with  desirable  results  was  not  his  fault.  He  en- 
deavored to  organize  an  independent  ministerium  of  New 
York,  and  it  was  effected  in  1786  with  three  clergymen  and 
two  laymen.  His  fertile  mind  gave  the  public  of  his  days, 
and  especially  the  Lutherans,  a  number  of  publications  calcu- 
lated more  to  counteract  rationalism  and  infidelity — which  in 
the  last  quarter  of  the  eighteenth  century  began  to  permeate 
the  masses  of  the  people — than  to  elucidate  the  peculiarities 
of  the  Lutheran  system  of  doctrine.  His  interest  in  the  apol- 
ogetical  department  of  theology  moved  him  to  desire  from 
Germany  all  the  publications  produced  in  connection  with  the 
controversy  aroused  by  Semler,  after  1751  professor  at  Halle 
and  colleague  of  Francke,  Knapp,  and  other  men  of  the  same 
type,  and  not  without  cause  called  the  father  of  Rationalism 
in  Germany,  Kunze  never  ceased  gathering  knowledge. 
He  read  pen  in  hand.  Books  in  which  he  entered  items 
taken  from  a  great  variety  of  publications,  and  referring  to 
geography,  natural  science,  history,  biography,  commerce, 
etc.,  are  still  preserved.  Soon  after  settling  in  New  York  he 
was  appointed  professor  of  Oriental  languages  in  Columbia 
College.  In  vain  he  waited  for  some  years  for  students  and 
for  a  salary.  Neither  of  them  appeared,  and  he  found  that 
empty  titles  are  a  cheap  commodity.  He  resigned  as  profes- 
sor in  1787,  resumed  the  office  again  in  1792,  and  held  the 
title  for  three  years  more.  He  remained  in  the  board  of 
trustees  until  his  death.  In  1784  he  was  among  the  origina- 
tors of  the  "  Society  for  Useful  Knowledge,"  and  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  "  German  Benevolent  Society  of  Pennsylvania " 
and  of  the  "  New  York  German  Society."  When  the  Ameri- 
can Congress  met  at  New  York  in  1785,  Kunze  was  sworn 
in  as  German  interpreter.  At  the  time  of  the  eclipse  of  the 
moon  on  June  16,  1806,  he  published  A  Table  of  a  new  con- 
struction for  calculating  the  great  eclipse,  expected  to  happen  on 
the  \6th  of  June,  1806,  by  J.  C.  Kunze,  Dr.  and  Prof .  of  Divinity, 
Senior,  etc.,  1 806,  and  thereby  proved  his  eminent  attainments 


442  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

in  the  higher  branches  of  mathematics.  We  may  say  that  he 
first  moved  to  give  the  Lutherans  in  America  a  religious  liter- 
ature of  their  own  in  the  English  language.  Wrangel  alone 
preceded  him  herein  by  publishing  Luther's  Small  Catechism 
in  English.  He  and  H.  M.  Miihlenberg  frequently  used  the 
English  language  in  preaching  the  gospel.  Kunze  published, 
in  1785,  "  Rudiments  of  the  Shorter  Catechism  of  Luther, 
chiefly  for  the  use  of  Lutheran  congregations  in  America,  to 
which  is  annexed  an  Abridgment  of  the  Principles  of  the 
Evangelical  Religion."  We  here  refer  our  readers  to  the 
most  instructive  monographs  on  "  Editions  and  Translations 
of  Luther's  Small  Catechism,  published  or  used  in  America," 
and  "  Explanations  of  Luther's  Small  Catechism  prepared 
for  use  in  America,"  by  Rev.  B.  M.  Schmucker,  D.  D.,  in  the 
Lutheran  Church  Review  (April  and  July,  1886),  where,  on  p. 
171,  Dr.  Kunze's  publication  is  specially  noticed.  When  he 
introduced  English  into  the  Lutheran  services  for  those  who 
no  longer  understood  the  German  language,  he  published  for 
such  services,  and  in  connection  with  a  young  pastor,  George 
Strebech,  A  Hymn  and  Prayer  book.  For  the  use  of  suck  Lu- 
theran churches  as  use  the  English  language.  Collected  by  Jolm 
C.  Kunze,  Senior  of  the  Lutheran  Clergy  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  New  York,  printed  and  sold  by  Hurtin  &  Commartin- 
gcr,  1795.  Small  I2mo,  p.  viii.  305,  163.  The  title  of  the 
book  is  rather  too  narrow,  and  does  not  indicate  all  the  variety 
of  the  contents.  No  less  than  one  hundred  and  forty-four  of 
the  two  hundred  and  thirty-nine  hymns  in  the  book  are  trans- 
lations from  the  German.  Many  of  the  hymns  are  good ;  the 
translations,  in  the  judgment  of  competent  critics,  are  unsatis- 
factory. We  cannot  enter  here  upon  an  enumeration  of  all 
the  publications,  sermons,  orations,  essays,  etc.  edited  by 
Kunze.  We  add  that  a  number  of  pastors  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  owed  their  theological  education  to  his  ability  and  to 
his  love  of  the  work. 

Dr.  Kunze  die.d  at  the  age  of  sixty-three  years,  at  New 
York,  July  24,  1807. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  443 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 
1773-1775. 

Miihlenberg  is  requested  to  pay  Another  visit  to  Ebenezer,  Ga. — Difficulties  in  this 
congregation,  and  between  Rev.  Chr.  Rabenhorst  and  Rev.  Chr.  Fr.  Triebner. — 
Miihlenberg's  manifold  cares  before  the  voyage. — Another  visit  to  the  Raritan 
churches. — Synodical  meeting  of  1773. — Members  of  synod. — Plans  for  a 
theological  seminary  and  an  orphan-house. — Hartwig^s  restlessness. — Dif- 
ficulties at  Reading. — Rev.  Ph.  J.  Grotz. — Muhlenberg  again  visits  New 
York. — His  son  Frederick  Aug.  pastor  of  the  German  Lutheran  congregation 
there. — Hausihl  pastor  of  the  Dutch  Lutheran  congregation. — The  Swedish 
pastors  J.  Wicksell  and  Nic.  Collin. — Barren  Hill  and  Germantown. — Rev. 
J.  F.  Riess. — Rev.  J.  Chr.  Leps  of  Loonenburg.- — Miihlenberg's  letters  to  Grotz 
and  to  a  member  of  the  Lutheran  congregation  at  Charleston.  S.  C. — Corner- 
stone of  a  church  laid  at  Pikestown. 

IN  a  previous  chapter  we  stated  that  H.  M.  Muhlenberg  had 
landed  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  Sept.  22,  1742,  and  then,  trav- 
elling by  the  way  of  Savannah,  from  Oct.  4th  to  Oct.  I  ith  paid 
a  visit  to  the  Salzburg  Lutheran  congregation  at  Ebenezer.  No 
less  than  thirty-two  years  had  now  passed,  and  it  could  hardly 
be  expected  that,  in  his  advancing  years  and  in  the  decline  of 
health  and  strength,  after  a  very  laborious  life  and  enduring 
many  severe  hardships,  he  would  once  more  visit  that  congre- 
gation and  exercise  a  beneficial  influence  in  the  endeavor  to 
restore  order  and  peace,  which,  with  distressing  circumstances, 
had  been  seriously  disturbed.  But  it  appears  that  already  in 
1773  letters  from  Europe  informed  Muhlenberg  of  the  condi- 
tion of  things  in  Ebenezer,  and  impressed  him  with  the  neces- 
sity of  undertaking  a  voyage  to  that  distant  place. 

At  an  earlier  stage  of  our  narrative  we  had  occasion  to  men- 
tion the  Rev.  Sam.  Urlsperger,  D.  D.,  senior  of  the  Lutheran 
clergy  at  Augsburg  and  the  tried  friend  of  the  Halle  Fathers. 


444  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

From  the  beginning  of  the  persecution  which  the  Salzburg 
Evangelicals  had  suffered  in  their  native  land  he  had  proved 
a  warm  and  influential  sympathizer  and  benefactor  to  them, 
had  favored  the  plan  to  transport  them  to  Georgia,  had  co- 
operated in  its  execution,  and  was  during  his  life  considered 
their  patron.  He  held  to  them  the  same  relation  as  the  Halle 
Fathers  held  to  the  united  congregations  in  Pennsylvania.  He 
also  published  reports  in  reference  to  their  condition  and  prog- 
ress, and  interested  many  charitable  people  in  Germany  in  their 
behalf.  After  his  death,  in  1772,  his  son,  John  August,  who 
succeeded  him  in  his  pastoral  office,  kept  up  the  interest  mani- 
fested by  his  father  for  the  Salzburgers  at  Ebenezer.  When 
the  news  of  the  unfortunate  and  distracted  disturbances  at 
Ebenezer  reached  him,  and  after  his  letters  and  his  admoni- 
tions had  proved  of  no  avail,  as  a  last  measure  he  proposed, 
with  the  consent  of  Ziegenhagen  at  London  and  other  friends, 
that  Miihlenberg  should  visit  Ebenezer  and  exert  himself  to 
unite  the  disunited,  restore  good  understanding  and  peace, 
and  adjust  certain  financial  difficulties  which  had  exercised  a 
disturbing  influence  in  the  congregation. 

The  letter  of  Rev.  Dr.  J.  A.  Urlsperger  which  officially  em- 
powered Miihlenberg  to  act  as  an  arbitrator  at  Ebenezer  is 
dated  Feb.  2,  1773.  To  this  letter  Ziegenhagen  at  London 
gave  his  full  consent  and  his  signature  July  15,  1773. 

The  instructions  which  Dr.  J.  A.  Urlsperger  gave  to  Miihl- 
enberg in  a  special  document  as  a  guide  for  his  action  suf- 
ficiently indicate  the  state  of  affairs  at  Ebenezer.  The  two 
pastors  then  serving  the  congregation  were  Christian  Raben- 
horst  and  Christopher  Frederick  Triebner.  Between  these  two 
men — of  whom  Rabenhorst  had  served  prior  to  the  arrival  of 
Triebner — very  serious  discord  had  broken  out.  Rabenhorst 
was  charged  by  his  colleague  with  being  stubborn,  despotic, 
and  negligent  of  church  discipline  with  a  view  to  his  personal 
advantage.  The  same  charges  were  also  brought  against 
Triebner,  with  the  addition  that  he  was  of  an  uncompromis- 
ing disposition  and  inclined  to  be  arbitrary  in  matters  of  church 
discipline.  Each  of  these  two  pastors  had  his  adherents,  and 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  44$ 

in  this  way  the  whole  life  of  the  congregation  was  disturbed 
and  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  impeded.  Miihlenberg  was 
expected  impartially  to  investigate  the  charges,  to  advise  as 
best  he  could,  and  to  endeavor  to  re-establish  peace.  We  find 
that  there  had  been  dissensions  in  the  Ebenezer  congregation 
before  the  arrival  of  Rev.  Triebner.  The  Ebenezer  people  had 
erected  mills,  which,  though  very  much  needed  and  very  use- 
ful, had,  on  account  of  their  management,  occasioned  much 
altercation  and  dissatisfaction.  As  these  mills  had  been 
erected  from  the  charitable  donations  coming  from  Augsburg 
and  London,  Urlsperger  maintained  that  their  revenues  were 
under  the  absolute  control  of  the  representatives  of  the 
donors,  and  should,  according  to  their  decision,  be  employed 
for  the  benefit  of  the  Ebenezer  congregation.  In  this  matter 
Miihlenberg  was  expected  to  listen  also  to  the  opinions  pre- 
sented to  him,  and  to  give  a  decision. 

Rev.  Rabenhorst  had  bought  a  plantation  belonging  to  the 
congregation  and  entered  into  a  contract  for  the  payment  of 
the  money ;  Muhlenberg  was  to  investigate  whether  he  had 
properly  carried  out  the  conditions  of  his  contract.  In  other 
respects,  also,  Muhlenberg  was  minutely  to  inform  himself 
about  the  whole  state  of  the  congregation,  and  to  make  there 
a  regular  and  authoritative  visitation.  He  was  also  advised  to 
render  to  Rabenhorst  the  honors  due  to  his  seniority  in  the 
office,  while  Rev.  Triebner  was  not  on  this  account  to  be 
treated  as  a  subordinate.  They  should  live  and  labor  together 
in  unity,  according  to  Ps.  cxxxiii.  Muhlenberg  was  also  re- 
quested so  to  define  the  sphere  of  action  for  each  of  the  two 
pastors  as  to  avoid  collisions  as  much  as  possible,  to  insist 
upon  the  cheerful  assistance  each  of  the  other  in  cases  of 
necessity,  and  to  inquire  whether  it  was  indispensably  neces- 
sary that  two  pastors  should  be  stationed  in  the  congregation. 
He  should  also  introduce  a  proper  order  for  public  services  at 
Ebenezer,  to  inquire  how  much  the  members  contributed  to  the 
support  of  the  pastors,  to  abolish  whatever  he  found  to  be 
injurious  to  the  pastoral  office  or  to  the  membership,  and  to 
adopt  and  encourage  what  might  further  their  interests. 


446  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

When  the  document  investing  Miihlenberg  with  this  author- 
ity came  into  his  hands  (Sept.  18,  17/3),  it  caused  him  serious 
consideration.  Willingly  admitting  that  his  body  and  his  soul, 
with  all  the  service  they  were  able  to  perform,  belonged  to  God, 
that  he  owed  a  debt  of  gratitude  to  his  aged  fatherly  friend  Dr. 
Ziegenhagen  at  London,  and  that  all  help  should  be  given  to 
Dr.  Urlsperger,  whose  father  had  been  such  a  warm  friend  to 
the  Ebenezer  Lutherans,  while  he  himself  took  such  an  inter- 
est in  their  welfare, — he  entertained  serious  doubts  whether  he 
would  be  able  to  accomplish  the  task  laid  upon  him.  He  says 
all  who  have  any  experience  in  such  matters  will  agree  that 
it  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  undertakings  to  restore  peace 
between  disunited  parties  belonging  to  the  same  church,  and 
especially  between  pastors  of  the  same  congregation,  because 
each  one  has  his  adherents,  who  eagerly  act  without  good 
sense  and  are  "inclined  to  argue  with  hands,  feet,  and  tongue," 
especially  in  an  absolutely  free  country,  which  knoweth  naught 
of  subordination,  and  in  which  an  arbitrator  is  left  without 
power  to  carry  out  the  most  impartial  decisions.  Miihlenberg 
also  felt  that  protracted  absence  might  not  result  beneficial- 
ly for  the  Philadelphia  congregation.  To  avoid  sea-sickness, 
which  he  had  reason  to  fear,  he  entertained  the  idea  of  travel- 
ling by  land;  but  in  1773  and  1774  the  Indians  were  engaged 
in  a  warfare  with  the  settlers  on  the  frontiers  of  the  Carolinas 
and  of  Georgia,  which  made  travelling  through  those  provinces 
rather  unsafe.  Miihlenberg  was  now  in  his  sixty-third  year, 
and  had  suffered  severe  attacks  of  sickness  toward  the  end  of 
1773  and  in  the  beginning  of  1774. 

On  the  other  hand,  letters  coming  from  London  continued 
to  urge  upon  Miihlenberg  the  necessity  of  undertaking  the 
journey  to  Ebenezer.  In  Philadelphia  his  youngest  son,  G. 
Henry  Ernest,  had  in  June,  1774,  been  elected  third  pastor 
and  colleague  of  his  father  and  J.  Chr.  Kunze,  his  brother-in- 
law  ;  which  circumstance  gave  Miihlenberg  more  freedom  in 
his  movements.  To  Mrs.  Miihlenberg,  whose  health  for  a 
number  of  years  had  been  very  precarious,  a  change  of  air 
appeared  to  give  hope  of  improvement,  and  her  youngest 


PIENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  447 

daughter,  Mary  Salome,  then  in  her  fifteenth  year,  could 
accompany  her  parents  and  be  of  much  service  to  the  suf- 
fering mother.  It  was  finally  resolved  to  proceed  to  Eben- 
ezer  by  sea.  Of  course,  perils  of  various  kinds  were  con- 
nected with  so  doing.  Miihlenberg  presents  them  to  his 
mind,  but  in  his  own  peculiar  way  says  that  since,  on  his 
arrival  in  America,  he  had  said  "  Good-morning  "  to  the  New 
World  at  Ebenezer,  it  would  not  matter  much  if  at  the  same 
locality  he  should  say  "Good-night"  to  it.  Through  his 
friend  the  Rev.  Dr.  R.  Peters  a  passport  and  strong  recom- 
mendations in  due  form  were  procured  for  him  from  the  Hon. 
John  Penn,  governor  and  commander-in-chief  of  Pennsylva- 
nia. Aug.  1 8,  1774,  Miihlenberg  entered  into  an  agreement 
with  a  sea-captain  to  take  him  and  his  companions  to  Charles- 
ton for  the  sum  of  sixteen  pounds  and  six  shillings,  the  trav- 
ellers themselves  finding  the  provisions. 

The  period  of  time  preceding  the  voyage  proved  a  very 
laborious  one  to  Miihlenberg.  In  April  and  May,  1774,  he 
had  paid  another  visit  to  the  New  Jersey  congregations,  where 
at  that  time  his  son  G.  Henry  E.  served  as  his  substitute.  On 
his  return  thence  he  met  at  the  hospitable  house  of  the  family 
Jameson,  thirty-six  miles  from  New  Germantown,  a  venerable 
old  man  of  eighty-four,  who,  though  so  deaf  that  conversation 
with  him  was  almost  impossible,  narrated  various  incidents 
of  his  life  in  connection  with  Rev.  George  Whitefield,  through 
whose  preaching  in  1740  he  was  awakened  to  a  spiritual  life. 
Among  other  things,  he  said  that  at  a  certain  time  Whitefield 
had  appointed  public  services  at  a  locality  where  the  narrator 
lived,  but  failed  to  appear  at  the  specified  time.  Some  thou- 
sands of  people  were  anxiously  waiting,  and  the  minister  of 
the  neighborhood,  a  highly-gifted  man  of  much  spirituality, 
began  to  speak  in  a  very  impressive  way  on  a  Bible  text,  but 
produced  not  the  least  impression  upon  his  many  hearers. 
The  moment,  however,  Whitefield  arrived  the  clergyman  made 
way  for  him,  giving  him  the  text  on  which  he  was  speaking. 
Whitefield  had  spoken  hardly  a  minute  when  the  whole  audi- 
tory showed  intense  excitement  by  wringing  of  hands,  sighs, 


448  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

sobs,  ejaculations,  etc.  Muhlenberg  sensibly  asks  whether  the 
name  of  the  man  or  his  fame  or  his  prejudices  and  fancies  had 
not  much  to  do  with  this  "  synergism,"  as  he  calls  it. 

When,  in  1775,  Rev.  W.  Graaf  was  called  to  the  Raritan 
congregations,  Miihlenberg's  responsibility  there  came  to  a 
legitimate  end.  Returning  to  Philadelphia,  he  found  such  a 
voluminous  correspondence  claiming  his  attention  that  he 
compares  himself  to  the  delinquents  in  a  certain  locality  in 
Europe,  who,  imprisoned  in  a  cage,  have  to  pump  unceas- 
ingly to  save  their  lives,  as  without  this  they  would  be 
drowned  by  the  rising  waters.  He  adds  that  the  members 
of  his  household  never  cease  to  find  fault  with  his  writing 
so  many  letters ;  but,  says  he,  "they  are  the  very  ones  who, 
when  I  think  I  am  done,  beg  me  to  introduce  this  or  that  fur- 
ther particular." 

Synod  met  in  Philadelphia  June  12  to  15,  1773,  according 
to  the  arrangement  made  by  Rev.  J.  N.  Kurtz,  elected  presi- 
dent in  1772.  Muhlenberg,  who  enjoyed  the  honorary  title  of 
senior  of  ministerium,  gives  the  list  of  pastors  present  besides 
himself:  J.  Nic.  Kurtz  of  York ;  Schulze  of  Tulpehoken ; 
Helmuth  of  Lancaster;  W.  Kurtz  of  Earltown  (New  Holland); 
Fred.  Aug.  Muhlenberg  of  Heidelberg  township ;  Magister 
Goeranson,  Swedish  pastor  at  Wicaco ;  St — r  (Stoever)  of  the 
district  of  Lebanon ;  Wd — n  (Wildbahn)  of  McAllistertown 
(Hanover),  on  the  other  side  of  the  Susquehanna;  Van  Bus- 
kirk  of  Macungie ;  Jung  of  White  Hall ;  Streit  of  Easton ; 
Roeller  (John  George,  who  had  received  his  education  for  the 
pastoral  office  in  Germany)  of  Goshenhoppen ;  Schmidt  of  Ger- 
mantown;  Schw — f — r  (Schwerdfeger)  of  Linntown;  Kunze 
of  Philadelphia;  H.  Muhlenberg,  Jr.;  and  Hartwig  extraor- 
din.  Voigt  of  Pikestown,  Krug  of  Frederick,  Md.,  Schaum 
of  Oley  and  Mosellem  were  absent,  as  also  was  Gerock, 
who  in  a  letter  addressed  to  the  German  Lutheran  vestry  at 
New  York,  and  now  indorsed  by  a  delegate  of  the  same,  who 
accompanied  it  with  explanatory  remarks,  states  that  he  had 
accepted  an  honorable  call  from  the  Lutheran  church  at  Balti- 
more. Among  other  subjects,  Kunze's  plan  for  a  theological 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  449 

seminary,  and  Miihlenberg's  suggestion  to  found  an  "  econom- 
ical institute"  in  behalf  of  orphans,  superannuated  pastors, 
and  teachers,  their  widows  and  children,  claimed  the  atten- 
tion of  synod.  The  request  of  the  European  friends  of  Eben- 
ezer  that  Muhlenberg  should  visit  that  distant  congregation 
was  also  laid  before  the  ministerium  and  met  with  approval. 
We  find  that  in  the  summer  of  1773  Muhlenberg  could  not 
avoid  answering  charges  which  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Hartwig  had 
lodged  against  him — not  formally,  but  in  an  underhanded 
way — accusing  Muhlenberg  of  having  prevented  him  from 
receiving  calls  from  various  congregations.  Hartwig,  by 
writing  for  himself  a  call  to  Frederick,  Md.,  and  purposely 
omitting  in  it  every  reference  to  synod,  in  1768  had  virtually 
cut  himself  loose  from  regular  connection  with  the  united 
congregations.  Afterward,  however,  he  found  it  advanta- 
geous occasionally  to  profess  holding  amicable  relations  with 
the  brethren ;  thus  he  appeared  as  an  extraordinarius  at  the 
synodical  meeting  at  Philadelphia  in  1773.  But  we  have 
enough  proof  that  at  divers  places  he  complained  that  Muhl- 
enberg prevented  congregations  from  giving  him  calls.  It 
seems  that  for  a  considerable  time  Muhlenberg  had  held  his 
peace,  but  finally,  having  received  letters  informing  him  of 
Hartwig's  proceedings,  he  answered  all  these  charges  in  a 
lengthy  document,  convincingly  proving  that  several  times 
he  had  recommended  Hartwig — of  whose  Christian  princi- 
ples and  moral  character  in  other  respects  he  had  no  doubt 
— to  a  number  of  congregations,  but  without  success.  In- 
stead of  taking  to  heart  Miihlenberg's  well-intended  and  most 
useful  advice,  Hartwig  continued  his  irregular  measures,  and 
was  never  quietly  and  steadily  active  for  any  length  of  time 
in  any  congregation,  but  in  consequence  of  lawsuits  about  a 
tract  of  land  which  he  had  acquired  from  the  Indians  in  the 
province  of  New  York  was  engaged  in  business  much  better 
suited  to  a  lawyer  than  to  a  clergyman,  was  habitually  travelling 
from  one  point  to  another,  and  had  thus  in  all  localities  where 
for  a  time  he  had  served  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel  lost  the 
confidence  of  the  people  as  a  useful  pastor.  Finding  himself 


4$0  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

in  an  undesirable  situation,  he  gave  vent  to  his  embittered 
feelings  by  accusing  and  calumniating  Muhlenberg,  for  whom 
it  was  certainly  a  most  unpleasant,  though  not  at  all  a  difficult, 
task  to  refute  the  unjust  charges  of  a  brother  whose  undeni- 
able good  qualities  he  always  willingly  acknowledged,  and 
in  whose  welfare  he  had  always  taken  the  deepest  interest, 
although,  through  the  stubbornness  with  which  he  continued 
in  his  unwise  course  of  conduct,  he  stood  in  his  own  light. 

The  congregation  at  Reading,  Pa.,  claimed  Miihlenberg's 
particular  attention  during  the  summer  of  1773.  Since  the 
removal  of  Rev.  J.  A.  Krug  to  Frederick  in  the  spring  of 
1771  the  position  there  was  very  unsatisfactory.  A  party 
consisting  of  men  of  loose  principles  and  rough  manners 
had  embittered  the  life  of  Krug,  who,  as  was  his  duty,  used 
the  word  of  God  against  their  carnal-mindedness.  After  his 
departure  the  brethren  of  the  ministry  were  unable  to  supply 
the  vacancy  in  a  suitable  manner.  The  better  portion  of  the 
membership  addressed  Miihlenberg  on  their  precarious  situ- 
ation. He  advises  them  not  to  enter  into  contention  with  the 
members  of  the  other  party,  but  rather  for  the  present  to  meet 
on  Sundays  in  a  private  house  and  there  hold  religious  ser- 
vices ;  also,  if  possible,  to  buy  a  lot  of  ground  as  a  cemetery 
of  their  own,  on  which,  perhaps,  at  a  later  period,  a  church 
might  be  erected.  Things  remained,  however,  pretty  much 
in  the  same  condition  also  during  the  brief  tenure  of  Rev. 
Ph.  J.  Grotz,  who  after  his  arrival  from  Europe  served  the 
congregation  during  the  year  1774  and  a  short  time  after- 
ward. A  change  for  the  better  took  place  under  the  ser- 
vices of  Rev.  H.  Moeller  (1775-77)  an<^  his  successors.  On 
account  of  private  affairs  Muhlenberg  paid  a  visit  there  in 
September,  1773. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  August,  1773,  Muhlenberg 
paid  a  visit  also  to  New  York,  where  afterward  his  son  Fred- 
erick Augustus  C.  was  engaged  in  the  service  of  the  German 
Lutheran  congregation.  In  his  diary  Muhlenberg  says  that 
the  journal  of  that  tour  was  completed  and  sent  to  the  Rev. 
J.  G.  Chr.  Helmuth,  then  pastor  of  the  Lancaster  congrega- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  451 

tion.  Unfortunately,  up  to  this  time  we  have  been  unable  to 
discover  any  traces  of  that  journal  or  to  obtain  any  other 
information  of  that  tour.  Hausihl  was  then  serving  the  old 
Dutch  Lutheran  church.  In  consequence  of  Gerock's  re- 
moval to  Baltimore  the  German  congregation  was  vacant. 
Miihlenberg,  hoping  that  Chr.  Em.  Schulze  would  return  to 
Philadelphia,  expected  to  spend  some  months  at  New  York 
to  benefit  the  vacant  congregation.  Being  disappointed  in 
this  hope,  he  had  to  return  to  Philadelphia,  and  sent  as  a 
substitute  his  son  Frederick  A.  C,  whom  afterward  the  con- 
gregation elected  In.  a  confidential  communication  of  Nov. 
22,  1773,  to  the  Rev.  J.  F.  Schmidt,  then  pastor  of  the  Ger- 
mantown  congregation,  Miihlenberg  says  that  if  ever  Schmidt 
should  leave  Germantown,  he  would,  if  the  congregation  there 
was  willing,  like  to  settle  there  and  with  the  assistance  of 
one  of  his  sons  to  serve  Germantown  and  Barren  Hill,  also 
on  given  occasions  to  offer  a  helping  hand  to  the  Philadelphia 
church ;  but,  says  he,  "  Man  proposes,  God  disposes.  I  am 
aged  and  feel  debilitated :  no  man  can  reasonably  think  hard 
of  it  that  I  desire  to  have  one  or  the  other  of  my  sons  with 
me  to  assist  me  in  pastoral  work."  Speaking  of  his  advanced 
years  and  of  his  infirmities,  he  reminds  us  of  a  statement  of 
1769 — viz.  "that  his  last  molar  was  gone." 

In  a  letter  addressed  (Oct.  27,  1773)  to  the  archbishop  of 
Sweden,  Miihlenberg  speaks  in  feeling  terms  of  Rev.  J.  Wick- 
sell,  who,  after  having  served  as  successor  of  Wrangel  in  the 
office  of  provost,  was  in  1773  recalled  to  Sweden,  arrived  there 
in  1774,  and  died  in  1800;  and  of  Rev.  A.  Goeranson,  who 
had  arrived  in  America  in,  1766,  became  rector  of  Wicaco 
church  in  1768,  was  Wicksell's  successor  as  provost,  returned 
to  his  native  land  in  1785,  and  also  died  in  1800.  The  last 
Swedish  missionary  sent  over  from  Sweden  was  Nic.  Collin 
of  Upsala,  who  arrived  in  this  country  in  1770,  was  appointed 
pastor  of  Wicaco  in  1786,  and  died  here  in  1831.  It  appears 
that  he  maintained  friendly  relations  with  Miihlenberg ;  while 
pastor  at  Raccoon,  N.  J.,  he  borrowed  books  from  Miihlen- 
berg's  library.  Up  to  the  year  1813  he  from  time  to  time 


452  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

preached  in  the  Swedish  language  in  the  Wicaco  church. 
Muhlenberg  in  his  letter  expresses  the  desire  that  in  the 
future,  as  heretofore,  the  Swedish  and  the  German  Lutheran 
brethren  might  unitedly  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the 
bonds  of  faith  and  love  to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  Lord.  We 
know  that  in  the  course  of  a  few  decades  of  years  the  Swedish 
congregations,  which  received  no  new  strength  through  immi- 
gration from  Sweden  and  no  English  Lutheran  congregations 
with  which  to  unite,  were  merged  with  the  Episcopal  Church, 
wherein  the  fact  that  the  Church  of  Sweden  had  the  episcopal 
form  of  government  was  made  of  the  greatest  weight,  though 
Lutherans  think  very  differently  of  it. 

In  the  beginning  of  1774  the  interests  of  St.  Peter's  congre- 
gation at  Barren  Hill  again  claimed  Miihlenberg's  special 
attention.  The  ministers  at  Philadelphia  had  considered  it 
their  duty  to  serve  that  congregation  as  much  as  their  respon- 
sibilities at  Philadelphia  permitted.  The  rapid  growth  and 
the  necessities  of  the  Philadelphia  congregation  prevented  the 
pastors  from  giving  the  Barren  Hill  Lutherans  the  care  which 
they  needed.  St.  Peter's  congregation  very  naturally  desired 
to  be  formally  united  with  the  Germantown  congregation  and 
regularly  served  by  its  pastor.  In  a  letter  dated  Feb.  10,  1774, 
Muhlenberg  addresses  the  vestry  of  St.  Michael's  at  German- 
town  in  behalf  of  St.  Peter's,  and  gives  strong  reasons  why 
this  request  should  be  granted,  and  the  assurance  that  by 
acceding  to  this  plan  the  Germantown  congregation  could 
in  no  way  be  involved  in  any  financial  responsibility,  since 
the  lot  and  the  church  at  Barren  Hill  legally  belonged  to  St. 
Michael's  corporation  at  Philadelphia — a  fact  which  we  for- 
merly had  occasion  to  mention.  Muhlenberg  incidentally  says 
that  in  those  days  Rev.  M.  Schlatter,  minister  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  was  permitted  by  the  Lutherans  to  preach  in  St. 
Peter's  on  the  Sundays  not  used  by  them  for  services. 

In  the  early  spring  of  1774,  Muhlenberg  received  a  visit 
from  the  Rev.  J.  Fr.  Riess,  whom  we  formerly  met  at  New 
York.  He  now  served  congregations  on  the  Upper  Hudson 
and  proved  quite  useful.  He  handed  Muhlenberg,  who  was 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  453 

pleased  with  his  visitor,  an  application  for  a  pastor  from  the 
elders  and  the  deacons  of  the  Loonenburg  (Athens)  congrega- 
tion. Miihlenberg  had  thought  of  .undertaking  a  journey  to 
that  distant  place,  and  had  hoped  by  spending  some  weeks  in 
the  midst  of  the  congregation  to  encourage  it  until  a  suitable 
pastor  could  be  found ;  but  other  duties  prevented  him  from 
carrying  out  his  benevolent  intention.  In  a  letter  of  Apr.  16, 
1774,  he  offers  to  the  vestry  his  services  in  procuring  a  pastor 
from  'Europe,  since  the  Loonenburg  Lutherans  needed  one 
who  had  command  of  the  Dutch  language,  and  Miihlenberg 
knew  only  two  pastors — Riess  and  Graaf — besides  himself  in 
the  Lutheran  clergy  of  America  who  could  preach  in  this 
language,  and  they  serving  in  other  localities.  In  July  of 
that  year  Rev.  J.  Chr.  Leps  was  called  to  Loonenburg.  He 
had  arrived  the  same  year  at  Philadelphia,  for  a  time  served 
as  teacher  in  Kunze's  seminary,  and  July  2Oth  was  ordained 
and  dismissed  to  his  new  field  of  labor.  He  had  some  know- 
ledge of  the  Dutch  language,  and  was  expected  to  master  it 
sufficiently  within  a  short  time. 

We  have'  already  presented  some  instances  which  clearly 
prove  that  Miihlenberg,  while  often  willing  to  forbear  and  to 
forgive,  knew  how  to  uphold  his  personal  dignity  :  we  are 
moved  here  to  introduce  an  example  unmistakably  testifying 
to  his  Christian  manliness.  We  stated  that  Rev.  Ph.  J.  Grotz 
was  elected  pastor  in  Reading  in  1774.  He  had  the  title  of 
magister  artium,  and  was  a  man  with  a  large  amount  of  self- 
conceit  and  of  an  unusually  irritable  temper.  He  at  once 
began  to  find  fault  with  Miihlenberg,  although  in  a  letter  he 
had  congratulated  him  for  having  so  soon  poured  the  oil  of 
peace  upon  the  turbulent  waters  at  Reading.  He  vexed 
Miihlenberg  with  letters  in  which  he  criticised  his  official 
conduct,  and  in  a  haughty  manner  undertook  to  correct  him. 
It  seems  that  Miihlenberg  did  not  trouble  himself  to  answer 
the  man's  insulting  missives,  but  finally  wrote  him  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"  RIGHT  REVEREND  SIR,  MOST  LEARNED  MAGISTER  GROTZ  : 


454  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Your  Reverence  is  herewith  briefly  informed  that  all  your 
letters  came  duly  to  hand.  In  case  you  have,  and  can  show, 
a  legal  commission  or  authority  granted  by  God  or  by  Amer- 
ican or  European  Christendom,  or  by  any  right  rev.  consistory 
or  ministry,  or  by  private  individuals,  I  shall  allow  you  strict- 
ly to  investigate  my  official  conduct,  to  arrive  at  an  impartial 
judgment,  and  proceed  in  a  proper  manner.  Since  you,  how- 
ever, up  to  this  time  in  your  letters  have  produced  nothing 
of  this  kind,  but  simply  brought  up  harsh  criminations,  men- 
aces, and  reflections  concerning  my  official  conduct,  my  family 
and  friends,  I  for  one  cannot  find  such  procedures  becoming 
the  character  of  a  divine,  a  Christian,  a  civil  citizen,  much  less 
a  magister  of  the  liberal  arts,  and  least  of  all  one  who  is  a 
stranger  here.  This  was  the  reason — and  a  quite  sufficient 
one  for  me — why  I  did  not  answer  your  letters  and  shall  not 
do  so,  but  rather,  if  more  of  this  kind  should  arrive,  return 
them  sealed  and  unread.  Such  infamous  sentiments  I  need 
not  expect  from  Reading ;  I  can  have  them  abundantly  here 
in  the  public  market.  If  you,  sir  and  magister,  have  any  just 
claim  against  me  or  my  children  or  my  relatives,  or  any  just 
cause  of  complaint,  any  legal  forum  is  open  to  you,  and  I  shall 
not  be  afraid  to  answer.  Only  do  not  dream  that  you  can  be 
both  accuser  and  judge,  for  in  this  country  the  golden  A-B-C 
is  still  in  use,  that  the  accused  has  a  right  to  be  heard  before 
judgment  is  passed.  This  much  from  Your  Reverence's  (in  all 
reasonable  things)  obedient  servant, 

"  MUHLENBERG. 
"  PHILAD.,  Apr.  20,  1774." 

Grotz  probably  had  lent  his  ear  to  some  slanderous  ene- 
mies of  Miihlenberg.  After  a  short  time  he  was  obliged  to 
leave  Reading  on  account  of  his  very  improper  conduct. 
Afterward  he  showed  himself  useful  on  the  Upper  Hudson 
and  in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  where  he  died  in  1809  in  Stone 
Arabia. 

During  the  summer  of  1774,  Miihlenberg  carried  on  a  cor- 
respondence with  the  vestry  and  with  individual  members  of 
the  Lutheran  congregation  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  where  a  young 


HENRY  MELCPIIOR  MUHLENBERG.  455 

minister,  Fr.  Baser  of  Wiirtemberg,  had  created  much  dissatis- 
faction. Miihlenberg  gives  most  useful  pastoral  advice  in  his 
letters,  takes  occasion  to  speak  of  paying,  on  his  way  to  Eben- 
ezer,  a  visit  to  Charleston,  and  promises  his  services  in  behalf 
of  the  congregation.  What  Miihlenberg  wrote  (June  14,  1774), 
in  connection  with  the  troubles  in  the  Charleston  church,  to  a 
member  of  that  congregation  deserves  to  be  stated  :  "  I  do  not 
think  that  you,  honorable  sir,  seriously  entertain  the  idea  of 
separating  from  the  German  congregation.  I  view  our  Ger- 
man Evangelical  Lutheran  Church  in  this  American  wilder- 
ness as  the  rnan  (Luke  x.  30-37)  who  fell  among  thieves  and 
murderers.  The  priests  and  Levites  of  the  Established  Church 
passed  it  without  compassion,  but  publicans  and  sinners  may 
yet  become  children  of  mercy  (Luke  xv.),  and  the  great  Lord, 
to  whom  all  belong,  will  go  even  after  the  one  hundredth 
sheep  which  is  lost.  We  must  never  allow  our  courage  to 
fail,  but  be  merciful,  as  our  Father  in  heaven  is  merciful  to- 
ward us  poor  worms,  and  for  the  sake  of  Christ's  merits  is 
not  so  soon  tired  of  us.  During  the  thirty-two  years  of  my 
sojourning  in  America  time  and  again  calls  and  occasions 
were  given  me  to  join  the  Episcopal  Church  and  to  receive 
four  or  five  times  more  salary  than  my  poor  German  fellow- 
members  of  the  Lutheran  faith  gave  me ;  but  I  preferred  re- 
proach in  and  with  my  people  to  the  treasures  of  Egypt 
[Comp.  Heb.  xi.  24—26.]  I  remember  that  many  years  ago 
a  proud  German  tailor  left  our  Church  and  joined  the  Epis- 
copalians, giving  as  a  reason  that  among  the  Germans  he  had 
few  customers — many  among  the  English.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  captain  of  high  standing  who  had  studied  the  German  joined 
our  Church,  telling  me  that  he  sat  with  more  pleasure  on  the 
rough  benches  with  the  poor  God-fearing  German  Lutherans 
than  on  those  high  seats  where  all  glittered  with  gold,  silver, 
and  the  like.  What  you,  honorable  sir,  can  in  Christian  char- 
ity contribute  to  the  peace  and  reconciliation  of  congregation 
and  pastor  you  will  certainly  offer  with  a  good  will  in  be- 
half of  our  faith."  We  shall  hereafter  meet  Miihlenberg  in 
Charleston. 


456  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Aug.  15,  1774,  with  Rev.  Voigt  and  Catechist  H.  Moeller, 
who  then  was  colaborer  of  Kunze  in  the  seminary  at  Phila- 
delphia, he  was  present  at  the  corner-stone  laying  of  the 
church  to  be  erected  at  Pikestown,  where  he  preached  in  Eng- 
lish and  laid  the  first  stone.  He  says  that  the  heat  of  the  sun 
was  oppressive,  and  that  the  trees  on  the  lot  where  the  church 
was  to  be  built  were  full  of  children  and  young  people,  who 
had  climbed  up  into  them  as  Zacchaeus  had  done — not  with 
the  same  motives,  but  to  see  something  new  and  unusual. 
He  adds  that  he  had  also  to  urge  the  people  to  give  large 
contributions — a  thing  which'  to  the  elders  and  deacons  in 
penuria  appears  to  be  the  most  animating  and  important,  pro- 
vided it  is  done  very  impressively  and  is  accompanied  by  the 
orator's  ample  contribution  as  a  proof  that  his  practice  follows 
his  theory.  He  also  bade  farewell  to  many  friends  who  knew 
of  his  intended  voyage  to  Ebenezer,  and,  returning  through 
Providence,  Aug.  1 6th,  preached  in  the  Augustus  Church,  on 
which  occasion  Pastor  Voigt  presided  at  the  organ  and  a  fare- 
well dinner  was  given  to  Muhlenberg,  in  which  a  number  of 
church-officers  and  other  friends  participated. 

Sunday,  Aug.  2 1st,  Muhlenberg  once  more  preached  in 
Zion,  and  took  leave  of  the  congregation.  At  a  meeting  of 
the  vestry  on  the  following  day  it  was  resolved  that  during 
his  absence  Kunze  should  in  all  needful  cases  act  as  deputy 
rector.  Muhlenberg,  having  in  1773  again  been  elected  pres- 
ident of  synod,  sent  to  Rev.  J.  Nic.  Kurtz  all  the  material 
necessary  for  the  meeting  of  synod  to  be  held  at  Lancaster 
in  the  fall  of  the  year,  and  requested  him  to  take  his  place  at 
this  synodical  meeting;  he  also  transferred  to  him,  for  the 
time  being,  the  care  of  the  Raritan  congregations,  took  leave 
of  Schulze,  Helmuth,  and  other  friends  by  letters,  and  also 
wrote  his  last  will. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR   MUHLENBERG.  457 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

1773-1775  (continued}. 

Voyage  to  Charleston,  Savannah,  and  Ebenezer. — Muhlenberg  at  Charleston. — 
His  interest  in  the  Lutherans  there  and  in  other  localities  io  South  Carolina. 
— Rev.  Messrs.  Baser,  Martin,  Hochheimer,  Hahnbaum,  Chr.  Streit. — Miihl- 
enberg's  idea  of  a  practical  theological  seminary. — Arrival  at  Savannah. — 
Rev.  Joach.  Zttbly,  D.  D. — Rabenhorst  and  Triebner  visit  Muhlenberg  and 
acknowledge  his  authority. — He  arrives  at  Ebenezer. — The  two  parties  in  the 
congregation. — Mutual  charges. — Divided  services. — Attempts  at  reconcilia- 
tion.— Rabenhorst's  accounts  found  correct. — Preparation  of  a  new  constitu- 
tion for  the  congregation. — Its  adoption. — Rabenhorst's  Christian  character 
vindicated. — Muhlenberg's  return  to  Philadelphia. 

O  ATURDAY,  Aug.  27th,  Muhlenberg,  with  his  wife  and 
O  daughter,  embarked  for  Charleston.  Some  friends  had 
sent  additional  provisions  on  board ;  many  others,  of  both 
sexes,  were  assembled  on  shore  to  say  farewell.  A  number 
of  others — among  them,  Kunze,  Peter  and  Henry  Muhlen- 
berg, and  Frederick  Keppele — in  their  boats  accompanied  the 
ship  five  or  six  miles  down  the  Delaware. 

Of  hardly  any  other  part  of  his  eventful  life  has  Muhlen- 
berg left  us  a  more  minute  record  than  of  this  voyage  to 
Ebenezer.  A  German  manuscript  was  translated  into  Eng- 
lish by  his  grandson,  the  late  Rev.  J.  W.  Richards,  D.  D.* 
Before  us  lies  a  manuscript  in  Muhlenberg's  own  hand,  differ- 
ing in  many  minor  points  from  the  translation  given  by  Dr. 
Richards.  We  shall  restrict  ourselves  to  a  summary  of  the 
most  important  events  of  the  voyage  and  of  the  labors  of 
Muhlenberg  more  directly  connected  with  the  mission  en- 
trusted to  him.  In  the  Halle  Reports  very  little  is  said  about 

*  The  translation  is  embodied  in  a  number  of  continuations  in  the  Gettysburg 
Evangelical  Review  from  1850  to  1852. 


458  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Miihlenberg's  voyage  to  Ebenezer.  The  subject  is  only  inci- 
dentally introduced  there  in  the  fifteenth  continuation  in  a 
letter  of  Kunze.  Nothing  is  said  of  the  causes  which  made 
necessary  that  visit  to  Ebenezer.  It  appeared  advisable  not 
to  speak  of  the  unfortunate  disturbances  in  that  congrega- 
tion, but  rather  to  avoid  the  unpleasant  impressions  they 
might  make  in  Germany  upon  the  friends  of  the  missions 
in  America. 

That  Miihlenberg  was  the  same  man  in  travelling  and  at 
home,  that  he  upheld  the  same  principles  on  shipboard  which 
he  preached  in  the  church  and  practised  on  land,  we  learned 
in  accompanying  him  from  Europe  to  America;  now,  also, 
after  the  lapse  of  so  many  years,  we  find  him  true  to  himself. 
On  Saturday  he  left  with  a  mixed  company  of  which  he  gives 
a  detailed  description,  and  humorously  includes  himself  as 
"  an  old-fashioned,  unattractive  German  parson."  The  follow- 
ing Sunday  evening,  when  the  vessel  was  at  anchor  before  New 
Castle,  he  sought  to  direct  the  mind  of  his  ten  fellow-cabin- 
passengers  to  the  irrationality  and  sinfulness  of  "  the  national 
vice  of  the  English  " — the  use  of  profane  language.  It  was 
unanimously  resolved  that  this  bad  habit  should  not,  and 
would  not,  be  tolerated  in  that  company.  He  also  found 
occasion,  as  he  had  when  crossing  the  ocean  in  1742,  to 
testify  against  the  practice  of  duelling,  which  in  those  times 
was  much  more  common  in  America  than  now,  and  which 
some  of  the  passengers  considered  under  some  circumstances 
unavoidable  for  a  man  of  honor.  On  Monday,  Aug.  29th,  a 
ship  coming  from  Jamaica  took  letters  of  Miihlenberg  to  his 
children  in  Philadelphia.  During  the  night  of  that  day  the 
high  sea  was  reached,  and,  contrary  winds  tossing  the  ves- 
sel, Miihlenberg,  his  daughter,  and  other  passengers  suffered 
greatly  from  sea-sickness  up  to  Sept.  5th,  while  Mrs.  Miihlen- 
berg remained  unaffected  by  it.  On  Sunday,  Sept.  4th,  by 
request  of  all  the  people  on  board,  Miihlenberg  held  services 
in  the  English  language,  concluding  with  singing  a  verse  of  a 
German  hymn.  He  was  much  pleased  with  the  attention  paid 
by  his  hearers.  The  sailors  of  the  ship  tried  to  show  their 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  459 

gratitude  and  their  esteem  in  a  popular  way.  They  hit  upon 
the  idea  that  Miihlenberg's  sea-sickness  was  the  result  of  the 
cook's  mistakes  in  his  art,  and,  having  a  sailor's  ration  pre- 
pared, sent  it  to  the  sufferer  by  a  delegate,  who  presented  it 
with  laconic  eloquence.  Miihlenberg  partook  of  it  because 
"  it  was  sweetened  with  good-will,  salted  with  serious  thought, 
and  seasoned  with  faith." 

Landing  at  Charleston  on  Thursday,  Sept.  8th,  at  ten  A.  M., 
Miihlenberg  with  a  thankful  heart  contemplated  the  wonderful 
ways  of  God,  who  after  thirty- two  eventful  years  again  had 
brought  him  thither.  Soon  some  members  of  the  vestry  of 
the  German  Lutheran  congregation  conducted  him,  his  wife, 
and  his  daughter  to  the  hospitable  house  of  Mr.  Timrod,  a 
highly-respected  member  of  the  church.  All  possible  kind- 
ness was  offered  to  the  strangers.  They  felt  the  change  of 
climate ;  the  heat  was  oppressive,  and  to  Miihlenberg  the  peo- 
ple "  looked  pale  and  yellowish,  as  though  they  had  come  out 
of  graves  or  lazarettos."  After  some  time  he  and  his  were 
taken  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Joseph  Kimbel,  a  man  in  good  cir- 
cumstances and  well  known  for  his  great  hospitality  toward 
ministers  of  the  gospel.  In  his  large  house  the  Miihlenbergs 
were  treated  with  the  utmost  kindness.  Sept.  pth  and  loth, 
Miihlenberg  received  many  visits  from  English  and  German 
people,  wrote  letters  to  his  son  Frederick  (then  at  New  York), 
and  prepared  himself  for  Sunday  services,  as  he  was  expected 
to  preach.  Among  his  hearers  were  two  pastors — one,  Fred. 
Daser,  whom,  on  account  of  his  offensive  conduct,  the  vestry 
had  deposed  from  the  office;  the  other,  J.  N.  Martin.  The 
latter  preached  in  the  afternoon  on  the  text,  "  My  house  shall 
be  called  a  house  of  prayer"  (Matt.  xxi.  13).  Miihlenberg 
says  of  him  that  he  was  an  autodidact  from  the  country  whom 
the  vestry  had  ordered  to  preach  for  a  few  Sundays :  "  he 
showed  how  we  ought  to  go  to  the  house  of  God,  how  behave 
in  it  and  outside  of  it.  In  the  first  part  he  proposed  six  steps 
to  lead  us  into  it;  the  second  part  was  intended  for  the  other 
subject.  All  was  ingeniously  illustrated  with  sentences  and 
quotations.  But,  as  from  the  shortness  of  the  time  and  the 


460  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

great  heat  he  did  not  show  us  any  other  outlet,  we  were 
obliged  to  return  again  by  those  six  steps,  and  finished  where 
we  had  begun."  In  this  criticism  there  is  an  irony  which 
cannot  escape  our  readers. 

Miihlenberg  felt '  unwell  on  the  following  Monday,  and 
learned  that  the  month  of  September  was  the  most  danger- 
ous month  in  the  Carolinas  and  in  Georgia,  and  that  much 
sickness  usually  prevailed.  He,  however,  paid  a  visit  to  Mr. 
Kalteisen,  an  experienced  elder  of  the  church,  who  was  fond 
of  reading,  acquainted  with  Gellert's  writings,  well  established 
.in  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  on  account  of  his  judicious- 
ness entrusted  with  a  number  of  offices.  Muhlenberg  says 
that  among  the  church-officers  and  members  here  there  were 
found  men  of  firm  convictions,  much  good  sense,  and  love  for 
the  Lutheran  Church,  desirous  to  work  for  the  increase  of  the 
Evangelical  confession,  and  willing  to  give  time,  labor,  and 
money,  but  that  there  was  needed  a  leader  powerful  in  pro- 
claiming gospel  truth  and  exemplary  in  his  conduct.  During 
the  week  he  suffered  a  severe  attack  of  fever,  but  with  much 
effort  managed  to  preach  on  Sunday  morning,  Sept.  iSth, 
on  I  Cor.  xv.  26.  In  the  afternoon  he  listened  to  another 
preacher,  from  a  country  congregation,  Rev.  E.  Hochheimer, 
who  recited  a  sermon  of  one  of  the  eminent  German  divines. 
On  the  following  Monday,  Muhlenberg  was  deeply  affected 
by  the  report  of  the  death  of  Rev.  Dr.  Ziegenhagen,  brought 
from  London  by  a  member  of  the  vestry.  The  report  was 
erroneous.  On  Wednesday,  Sept  2ist,  Muhlenberg  was 
taken  in  a  carriage  to  the  country-seat  of  one  of  the  elders  of 
the  church,  who  had  lived  there  for  thirty-five  years  and  re- 
membered Miihlenberg's  first  arrival  and  visit  at  Charleston. 

With  his  wife  and  daughter,  Muhlenberg  remained  here  from 
Sept.  8th  until  Oct.  26th.  During  this  period  he  served  the 
Lutheran  congregation  in  spiritual  matters  and  exercised  a 
wholesome  influence  for  its  administration ;  he  also  gathered 
considerable  information  as  to  the  condition  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  and  congregations  in  the  province  of  South  Carolina.* 

*  On  this  subject  solid  and  ample  instruction  is  given  in  the  History  of  the-Ger- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  461 

At  the  time  of  Miihlenberg's  visit  the  Charleston  congre- 
gation was  in  a  critical  situation.  Rev.  J.  T.  Hahnbaum,  a 
worthy  man,  who  had  been  called  from  Germany  and  served 
the  congregation  from  1761  until  his  death  in  1772,  was 
succeeded  by  Fred.  Daser,  already  mentioned,  who,  a  young 
and  inexperienced  man,  had  come  to  this  country  not  as  a 
theologian,  but  as  a  magister  artium,  was  accepted  as  an 
assistant  by  Rev.  Hahnbaum — who  was  in  a  sickly  and  de- 
bilitated condition — received  from  him  the  necessary  instruc- 
tion and  various  aids  for  preaching,  manuscripts,  books,  etc., 
married  one  of  his  daughters,  and  after  the  father's  death  was 
appointed  by  the  vestry  as  his  successor  for  one  year,  and 
after  the  lapse  of  that  time  for  three  more  years.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  conduct  of  Daser — who  with  his  wife  visited  balls 
and  other  similar  entertainments  and  participated  in  nightly 
brawls  and  other  excesses — was  not  of  such  a  character  as  to 
recommend  him  to  the  better  class  of  the  membership.  The 
vestry,  therefore,  would  no  longer  engage  his  services,  and, 
having  made  fruitless  attempts  to  obtain  a  pastor  from  the 
ecclesiastical  authorities  of  Hanover,  petitioned  Miihlenberg 
to  send  them  a  suitable  man.  Daser's  adherents,  of  whom 
he  had  a  considerable  number  among  a  certain  class,  could 
not  raise  a  salary  to  sustain  him  and  his  family ;  the  other 
members,  who  had  a  more  spiritual  view  of  the  pastoral  office, 
were  not  willing  to  do  it.  Under  these  circumstances  Daser 
resolved,  with  recommendations  of  the  lieutenant-governor 
and  some  Episcopal  ministers,  to  go  to  England,  in  the  hope 
of  receiving  holy  orders  there.  Learning  that  Miihlenberg's 
arrival  was  expected,  he  had  delayed  his  departure  to  await 
Miihlenberg's  decision  for  or  against  him.  He  listened  to 
Miihlenberg's  sermons  and  also  personally  visited  him.  The 
vestry  had  positively  decided  that  under  no  circumstances 
would  they  again  engage  Daser's  services  or  pay  the  debts 

man  Settlements  and  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  North  and  South  Carolina,  etc. 
etc.,  by  G.  D.  Bernheim,  D.  D.  (formerly  pastor  of  St.  Paul's  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church,  Wilmington,  S.  C. ;  now  pastor  of  Evangelical  Lutheran  Grace  Church, 
Phillipsburg,  N.  J.).  Philadelphia:  Lutheran  Bookstore,  117  N.  Sixth  st.  1872. 


462  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

he  had  contracted.  Muhlenberg,  who  was  present  at  the 
meetings  of  the  congregation  and  the  vestry,  and  who  at 
once  felt  the  want  of  a  proper  constitution  for  the  congre- 
gation, could  not  and  would  not  defend  a  man  who  during 
four  years  had  demonstrated  that  he  had  no  proper  concep- 
tion of  the  dignity  and  the  duties  of  the  clerical  office.  Da- 
ser,  seeing  that  his  opportunities  were  gone,  at  the  advice  of 
Muhlenberg  wrote  a  short  petition  in  behalf  of  himself,  his 
wife,  and  his  two  little  children  :  some  of  the  vestry,  who 
personally  cherished  no  ill-will  against  him,  canvassed  the 
congregation  in  his  behalf,  and  in  this  way  collected  between 
seventy  and  eighty  pounds  Carolina  currency,  of  which  sum 
ten  pounds  came  from  Muhlenberg,  the  very  least  portion 
from  Daser's  adherents.  Daser  departed  for  England,  but 
in  consequence  of  terrible  storms  the  vessel  was  necessitated 
to  return  to  Charleston.  It  appears  that  *the  school  of  sad 
experiences  was  not  without  some  wholesome  effects  upon 
Daser's  spiritual  condition. 

In  behalf  of  the  congregation  Muhlenberg  drew  up  a  peti- 
tion for  a  suitable  pastor  to  the  "  Society  for  Promoting  Chris- 
tian Knowledge  in  London ;"  this  petition  was  signed  by  nearly 
all  the  members  of  the  congregation,  and  sent  by  Rev.  Pasche 
of  London  lalso  to  the  t{  Fathers  "  in  Halle,  having  been  for- 
warded to  Europe  by  Mr.  Mey  of  Charleston.  Meanwhile 
the  vestry  re-engaged  the  services  of  Rev.  J.  N.  Martin,  who 
consented  to  take  charge  of  the  congregation  until  the  arrival 
of  the  pastor  expected  from  Europe.  In  consequence  of  the 
outbreak  of  the  political  troubles  between  England  and  the 
American  colonies  this  pastor  never  arrived.  Rev.  Martin 
proved  a  strenuous  advocate  of  American  rights,  wherein  he 
was  supported  by  his  membership,  out  of  which  the  German 
fusilier  company  of  Charleston  was  formed.  He  was  for  a 
time  imprisoned  by  the  English,  since  he  refused  to  pray  for 
King  George  III.,  and  then  driven  from  the  city.  During 
this  time  two  ministers — Rev.  Christian  Streit,  whose  mem- 
ory is  cherished  by  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America,  and 
Fred.  Daser — partially  supplied  the  congregation.  When 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  463 

Streit,  who  entered  upon  his  pastoral  duties  in  1778,  was 
made  a  prisoner  of  war  by  the  British,  Daser  appears  to  have 
been  sole  pastor  of  the  Lutherans  at  Charleston  until  July, 
1786,  when  he  took  a  pastoral  charge  in  Orangeburg  Dis- 
trict, S.  C. 

During  his  visit  to  Charleston,  Miihlenberg  took  a  lively 
interest  in  all  that  appertained  to  the  Lutheran  congrega- 
tion ;  he  also  participated  in  a  consultation  of  the  vestry  con- 
cerning the  establishment  of  a  parochial  German  and  English 
school.  There  is  no  doubt  that  his  sojourn  at  Charleston 
resulted  in  much  good  to  the  congregation.  He  and  his 
companions  received  many  marks  of  esteem  and  good-will 
from  the  brethren  and  from  others.  Rev.  W.  Tennent,  a 
member  of  a  family  of  preachers  with  which  he  already  had 
become  acquainted  in  Pennsylvania,  pastor  of  the  large  con- 
gregation of  the  Independents,  invited  him  to  preach.  The 
German  Benevolent  Society  of  Charleston  (established  Jan. 
15,  1766,  and  still  active),  at  that  time  counting  about  eighty 
members,  and  called  by  Miihlenberg  the  flower  of  the  Ger- 
man nation  in  those  parts,  invited  him  to  be  present  at  one 
of  their  meetings  and  to  participate  in  a  dinner  given  in  his 
honor.  He  also  became  acquainted  with  an  English  gentle- 
man who,  coming  from  Savannah,  gave  him  valuable  infor- 
mation concerning  the  state  of  affairs  at  Ebenezer,  telling 
him  that  the  congregation  was  divided  into  two  parties,  one 
adhering  to  Rev.  Rabenhorst,  an  excellent  man  and  an  exem- 
plary pastor,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Treutlen,  a  justice  of 
the  peace  and  a  merchant  in  easy  circumstances ;  the  other 
the  friends  of  Rev.  Triebner,  under  the  leadership  of  Mr. 
•Wertsch,  a  merchant  of  means  at  Ebenezer.  Miihlenberg 
found  at  Charleston  other  persons  of  English  and  German 
descent  who  spoke  in  high  terms  of  Rabenhorst's  Christian 
character  and  conduct. 

During  his  visit  to  Charleston,  Miihlenberg  had  opportu- 
nity, through  letters  and  personal  intercourse,  to  learn  much 
about  the  spiritually  destitute  condition  of  many  German  Lu- 
theran settlers  in  the  interior  of  the  province  of  South  Carolina. 


464  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

9 

A  family  living  about  fifty  miles  from  Charleston  visited  his 
host,  and  from  them  he  learned  that  in  their  district  church 
and  school  were  in  a  bad  way ;  that  they  had  provided  their 
own  barn  as  a  place  of  worship  for  the  people  of  the  neighbor- 
hood ;  that  their  pastor  was  a  man  who  had  come  from  Ger- 
many some  time  previous,  and  that,  though  he  had  some 
ability  as  a  teacher,  he  had  none  as  a  preacher ;  that  the  whole 
week  he  was  busy  in  gathering  his  Sunday  sermon  from  vari- 
ous books  and  laboriously  writing  it.  This  composition,  and 
even  the  Lord's  Prayer,  he  read  on  Sunday  without  any  ges- 
ture or  pathos,  excusing  himself  by  saying  that  God  had 
totally  refused  him  the  gift  of  memory.  Miihlenberg  adds 
that  God  is  always  unjustly  blamed  whenever  lazy  fellows 
remain  uncircumcised  in  heart  and  in  ears.  He  also  learned 
that  in  that  region  very  few  were  able  to  read  or  to  write, 
which  moved  him  to  exclaim,  "  Oh  what  an  advantage  and 
consolation  an  institute  would  be  where  catechists  could  be 
prepared  and  made  willing,  during  week-days,  to  keep  school, 
and  on  Sundays  and  church-festivals  to  deliver  suitable  ser- 
mons !  There  would  be  no  need  to  trouble  these  young  men 
for  years  with  studying  foreign  languages ;  it  would  be  quite 
sufficient  if  they  were  gifted  with  an  average  amount  of  good 
common  sense,  had  a  compendious  knowledge  of  the  essen- 
tials of  theology,  in  addition  to  personal  experience  of  saving 
truth — if  they  could  make  a  decent  use  of  the  pen,  had  com- 
mand of  their  mother-tongue  and  the  English ;  were  also  to 
some  extent  masters  of  the  rudiments  of  Latin ;  of  robust 
bodily  frame,  able  to  endure  all  sorts  of  victuals  and  weather; 
and,  above  all,  if  they  were  endowed  with  hearts  sincerely 
loving  the  Saviour,  his  lambs  and  sheep."  But  he  finally 
adds,  "  This  matter  is  among  the  pia  desideria,  easier  con- 
ceived in  theory  than  executed  in  practice." 

Among  the  letters  Miihlenberg  received  while  sojourning  at 
Charleston  was  one  from  the  Rev.  J.  G.  Friederichs,  who  for- 
merly served  congregations  in  Pennsylvania,  between  1755 
and  1759  had  presided  over  the  Charleston  congregation, 
and  after  laying,  in  1759,  the  corner-stone  of  a  frame  church, 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  46$ 

had  moved  to  the  Lutherans  in  Amelia  township,  about  one 
hundred  miles  distant  from  Charleston.  His  letter  was  an- 
swered in  words  of  sympathy  and  encouragement.  Letters 
also  arrived  from  relatives  in  Pennsylvania  and  cheered  the 
hearts  of  father,  mother,  and  daughter.  Here  Miihlenberg 
also  received  the  distressing  news  that  Israel  Heintzelmann, 
the  only  surviving  son  of  the  late  Rev.  J.  D.  M.  Heintzelmann 
of  Philadelphia,  had  died  (Sept.  12)  at  Ebenezer  in  conse- 
quence of  being  thrown  by  a  spirited  horse;  to  which  sad 
event  we  formerly  alluded. 

At  last,  on  Wednesday,  Oct.  26th,  after  many  futile  at- 
tempts to  depart,  Muhlenberg,  with  wife  and  daughter,  accom- 
panied to  the  wharf  by  the  family  of  his  kind  host  and  by  a 
number  of  other  friends,  went  on  board  of  the  old  and  very 
incommodious  vessel  which  was  to  take  them  to  Savannah. 
They  experienced  much  hardship,  but  reached  Savannah  at 
two  o'clock  on  the  following  afternoon. 

Here  the  Rev.  Joachim  Zubly,  D.  D.,  pastor  of  the  Re- 
formed church,  whose  benevolence  toward  Rev.  Handschuh 
at  Germantown  has  previously  been  mentioned,  and  who  at 
that  time  had  lived  at  Charleston,  had  paid  a  visit  to  Phil- 
adelphia in  1752  and  become  personally  acquainted  with 
Muhlenberg,  most  cordially  invited  the  strangers  to  his 
house.  Although  appreciating  Dr.  Ziibly's  kindness,  import- 
ant considerations  moved  Muhlenberg  to  accept  the  hospitality 
of  Mr.  Stephan  Millen,  German  merchant  and  a  member  of 
the  Lutheran  congregation  there  and  of  the  Assembly,  who 
in  1773  had  brought  his  oldest  son  to  Philadelphia  to  the 
Rev.  Kunze  for  instruction  and  confirmation,  and  whose  ac- 
quaintance Muhlenberg  had  made  on  that  occasion.  When, 
by  invitation,  Muhlenberg,  with  his  wife  and  daughter,  dined 
at  Ziibly's,  he  found  there  the  largest  collection  of  books  he 
had  ever  seen  in  any  pastor's  study  in  America ;  but,  as  in 
many  such  libraries,  "  the  books  are  like  the  trees  that  lose 
their  fruit  and  foliage  in  autumn,  for  printed  leaves  without 
number,  whole  and  half  tracts,  manuscripts,  etc.  lie  scattered 
on  the  floor."  On  Jan.  9,  1775,  Ziibly,  then  at  Ebenezer,  laid 


466  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

before  Miihlenberg  the  manuscript  of  a  dissertation  in  Latin 
which  he  intended  to  have  printed,  having  been  created  doc- 
tor of  divinity.  He  was  a  learned  and  well-meaning  man,  but 
of  a  sanguine  temper.  When  sent  to  the  American  Congress 
as  the  representative  from  Georgia,  he  unfortunately  proved 
a  decided  Tory,  secretly  corresponded  with  the  Tory  governor 
of  Georgia,  was  publicly  denounced  as  a  traitor,  and  in  conse- 
quence suffered  confiscation  of  property  and  other  severe  hard- 
ships. In  his  diary  Miihlenberg  states  that  in  a  letter  from  Sa- 
vannah at  the  close  of  1783^6  was  mentioned  as  having  died. 
His  death  had  taken  place  in  July,  1781.  (Vide  Lor.  Sabine's 
Loyalists  (1847),  P-  73 2  f-) 

Friday  evening,  the  day  after  his  arrival  at  Savannah,  Miihl- 
enberg by  two  letters  of  similar  import  informed  the  pastors 
Rabenhorst  and  Triebner  at  Ebenezer  of  his  presence  in 
compliance  with  the  request  of  Rev.  Drs.  Ziegenhagen  and 
Urlsperger  and  of  members  of  the  Societas  de  Propaganda 
Cognitione  Christi,  of  his  readiness  to  do  his  share  for  the 
restoration  of  harmony  between  pastors  and  congregation  at 
Ebenezer,  of  the  motives  which  had  influenced  him  in  this 
matter  to  undertake  such  a  lengthy  journey  at  his  advanced 
age,  of  the  authority  given  him  in  this  affair,  and  of  his  obliga- 
tion to  report  the  results  to  those  who  had  empowered  and 
sent  him.  He  desired  to  have  a  preliminary  private  interview 
with  both  the  pastors.  Of  these  letters  Miihlenberg  retained 
a  copy.  He  knew  that  in  this  unfortunate  complication  he 
was  obliged  to  use  the  greatest  circumspection,,  and  he  acted 
throughout  in  accordance  with  this  conviction. 

On  Saturday,  Oct.  29th,  a  man  of  seventy  years,  a  Lutheran, 
who  thirty  years  before  had  rowed  Miihlenberg  and  Rev.  J. 
Chr.  Gronau  up  to  Ebenezer,  came  to  see  him.  He  remem- 
bered the  hymns  which  the  two  clerical  gentlemen  had 
sung  while  going  up  the  Savannah.  At  Savannah,  on  Sun- 
day, Miihlenberg  preached  twice  in  the  Lutheran  church,  a 
frame  structure  (formerly  used  as  the  court-house)  which  the 
Lutherans  had  bought  and  moved  to  another  locality.  They 
had  now  owned  it  about  two  years,  and  had  adorned  it  with 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  467 

a  small  belfry  with  a  bell.  He  was  pleased  with  the  attention 
and  behavior  of  his  hearers,  who  every  sixth  Sunday  enjoyed 
the  services  of  Rev.  Rabenhorst. 

Monday,  Oct.  3 1st,  at  four  p.  M.,  Muhlenberg  was  visited 
by  both  the  pastors  of  Ebenezer ;  he  had  never  before  seen 
them.  After  some  general  conversation  he  laid  before 
them  the  document  authorizing  him  to  investigate  the  dif- 
ficulties existing  between  them  and  the  Ebenezer  member- 
ship, with  the  instructions  he  had  received  from  Rev.  Dr. 
Urlsperger  at  Augsburg.  He  inquired  whether  they  ac- 
knowledged both  documents  and  were  willing  to  proceed 
accordingly.  Rabenhorst  at  once  gave  his  consent ;  Triebner 
also  gave  his  after  some  hesitation.  Finally,  both  reduced 
their  consent  to  writing.  Muhlenberg  requested  them  to 
confine  their  complaints  to  a  few  main  points,  and  to  hand 
them,  to  him  in  writing;  in  case  important  charges  bearing 
upon  their  office  and  their  character  or  upon  the  congrega- 
tion were  to  be  laid  before  him,  to  have  ready  credible  wit- 
nesses who  could  be  put  under  oath.  This  also  both  promised 
to  do.  When  Rabenhorst  left,  Triebner  continued  for  an 
hour  to  represent  the  difficulties  at  Ebenezer  as  he  viewed 
them,  but  elicited  no  response  from  Muhlenberg,  who,  how- 
ever, was  unpleasantly  surprised  to  learn  that  by  a  grant  from 
the  governor  and  the  council  of  the  province  the  Jerusalem 
Church  at  Ebenezer,  with  the  ground  on  which  this  main 
church  of  the  congregation  was  erected,  and  with  the  glebe 
and  the  graveyard,  was  placed  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Church  of  England.  If  this  was  so,  Ebenezer  and  all  its 
appurtenances  might  finally  go  into  the  hands  of  strangers, 
and  all  the  charities  in  its  behalf  and  all  the  labors  devoted  to 
it  would  prove  abortive. 

Before  going  to  Ebenezer,  Muhlenberg  also  addressed  him- 
self to  both  the  "  political  heads  "  of  the  two  existing  parties 
— Mr.  Treutlen,  who  lived  about  ten  miles  west  of  Ebenezer, 
arid  Mr.  Wertsch.  He  considered  them  as  representative  men, 
and  requested  each  to  present  his  principal  charges  in  writing, 
begging  them  both  to  facilitate  the  work  of  peace  to  the  best 


468  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

of  their  ability.  He  also  stated  that  during  his  stay  in  Eben- 
ezer  he  would  like  to  have  lodgings  in  a  house  free  from  the 
suspicion  of  party  influence.  On  the  following  day  Raben- 
horst,  with  Mrs.  Muhlenberg  and  her  daughter,  left  for  Eben- 
ezer.  Triebner  remained  and  took  occasion  to  read  to  Muhl- 
enberg many  communications  exchanged  between  him  and 
Rabenhorst.  He  also  stated  that  the  larger  party,  the  friends 
of  Rabenhorst,  through  the  officers  of  the  congregation,  had 
locked  the  Jerusalem  Church  against  him ;  that  he  now,  with 
his  adherents,  held  services  in  Mr.  J.  C.  Wertsch's  house;  and 
that  he  had  in  vain  petitioned  the  governor  for  redress.  Muhl- 
enberg felt  that  in  this  condition  of  affairs  there  was  apparent 
danger  that  the  governor  might  step  in,  take  the  property  of 
the  congregation  under  his  protection  in  behalf  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  place-there  a  pastor  who  had  had  Episcopal 
ordination.  The  grant  concerning  the  Jerusalem  Church  and 
other  property  Muhlenberg  was  unable  to  discover  in  Savan- 
nah, but  he  received  a  copy  of  a  grant  of  five  hundred  acres 
belonging  to  the  mills  erected  at  Ebenezer.  This  instrument 
was  dated  Aug.  7,  1759,  and  the  property  was  given  to  Raben- 
horst, John  Fieri,  Lewis  Meyer,  and  their  heirs  and  assigns,  as 
their  possession  for  ever,  with  the  addition  "  in  trust,  neverthe- 
less ;"  which  term,  as  Muhlenberg  says,  was  entirely  too  indef- 
inite, since  those  gentlemen  never  gave  a  declaration  of  trust 
binding  themselves  to  apply  the  income  to  congregational 
purposes.  Rabenhorst  was  not  of  a  robust  constitution :  he 
died  a  few  years  after  Muhlenberg's  visit,  leaving  a  widow,  but 
no  children.  Fieri  was  dead,  and  his  legal  rights  had  devolved 
upon  his  son.  Meyer  also  was  dead,  and  his  four  children 
were  minors.  The  more  heirs  the  more  claims  upon  the  land 
and  the  income.  No  wonder,  says  Muhlenberg,  that  the  mills 
occasioned  much  strife ;  the  fault  had  been  committed  in  the 
beginning.  The  original  grant  concerning  Jerusalem  Church 
was  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Wertsch,  and  was  sent  to  Muhlenberg 
by  Triebner  Nov.  5th.  It  states  plainly,  under  date  April  2, 
1771,  "that  the  said  two  lots  of  land  first  above  mentioned 
shall  be  to  and  for  the  only  proper  use,  benefit,  and  behoof 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  469 

of  two  ministers  of  the  gospel,  residents  within  the  parish 
aforesaid  (St.  Matthew's),  using  and  exercising  divine  service 
according  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land within  the  said  parish,  and  their  successors  for  ever,"  etc. 
Here  was  the  mistake.  The  document,  Miihlenberg  said, 
ought  to  have  read  "for  the  only  proper  use,  benefit,  and 
behoof  of  the  ministers  and  congregation,  being  Protestants 
according  to  the  Augsburg  Confession  and  Liturgy,  and  their 
successors  for  ever."  Who  had  introduced  that  unfortunate 
phraseology?  Miihlenberg  does  not  answer  the  question, 
but  alludes  to  the  fact  that  there  was  a  certain  lawyer  at  Sa- 
vannah— Joseph  Ottolenghe,  at  one  time,  according  to  report, 
a  Portuguese  Jew,  now  a  member  of  the  Anglican  Church,  a 
justice  of  the  peace,  and  "a  great  friend  of  the  Germans,  pro- 
vided they  would  act  as  he  wished  them  " — whom  Triebner 
had  visited  soon  after  having  acknowledged  Miihlenberg's 
authority;  which  act  Muhlenberg  suspects  he  regretted. 

When  Muhlenberg,  on  the  afternoon  of  Monday,  Nov.  ^th, 
arrived  at  Rabenhorst's,  twenty  miles  from  Savannah,  he 
found,  quite  contrary  to  the  impressions  made  upon  him  by 
descriptions,  a  small  frame  house  on  four  posts,  on  the  first 
floor  a  room  of  moderate  dimensions  and  an  alcove,  which 
was  given  to  the  guest,  Rabenhorst  and  his  wife  moving  to 
the  attic. 

The  week  now  before  him  Muhlenberg  calls  a  week  of  mar- 
tyrium.  He  saw  before  him  a  most  unpleasant  task.  He  had 
hardly  arrived  when  Triebner  and  his  adherents  sent  him  a 
document  containing  fifteen  accusations  against  Rabenhorst, 
most  of  them  of  an  irrelevant  character — others  charging  him 
with  arbitrary  conduct  in  church  affairs,  remissness  in  the 
exercise  of  discipline,  neglecting  to  give  account  of  the  trusts 
in  his  hands,  and  unwillingness  to  come  to  an  amicable  under- 
standing with  Triebner  and  his  friends.  On  the  other  hand, 
Rabenhorst  complained  that  from  the  time  of  his  arrival 
Triebner  had  made  it  impossible  to  hold  fraternal  relations 
with  him,  and  had  continually  found  fault  with  him  and  with 
the  customs  of  the  congregation,  the  manner  in  wjjich  the 


470  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

parochial  school  was  kept  and  the  children  were  treated ;  had 
proposed  changes  in  the  matter  of  the  salary  of  the  pastors, 
which  Rabenhorst  did  not  think  beneficial ;  had  acted  in  a 
very  offensive  manner,  and  misrepresented  before  the  people 
and  in  letters  to  Europe  the  doings  of  his  colleague  in  ref- 
erence to  financial  transactions ;  had  calumniated  him  before 
the  congregation  and  Mr.  Whitefield ;  and  had  seriously 
affected  his  good  reputation  among  the  membership  by 
representing  him  as  a  false  teacher  and  a  disturber  of  the 
churches. 

The  church-officers  handed  Miihlenberg  a  separate  docu- 
ment, wherein  they  charged  Triebner  with  most  unbecoming 
behavior  toward  Rabenhorst,  who  at  all  times  had  treated  him 
kindly ;  with  avarice  and  covetousness  in  claiming  the  right 
of  administering  the  trusts  in  Rabenhorst's  hands,  for  which 
he  had  no  official  authority ;  with  an  impetuous  and  irascible 
temper ;  with  unbridled  ambition,  leading  him  to  think  him- 
self superior  to  all  others  and  always  to  claim  the  first  honors; 
and  with  an  envious  and  implacable  disposition. 

Wednesday,  Nov.  Qth,  Triebner  took  Miihlenberg  to  his 
house  in  Ebenezer,  where  he  met  with  the  widow  of  Rev. 
Lembke,  whom  thirty-two  years  before  he  had  known  as  the 
wife  of  Rev.  Gronau.  Herm.  H.  Lembke  was  sent  in  1746  as 
the  successor  of  Gronau,  who  had  died  July  1 1,  1745.  Lemb- 
ke died  about  five  years  before  Miihlenberg's  second  visit  to 
Ebenezer.  The  church  records  of  the  town  having  been 
almost  wholly  destroyed  or  lost  during  the  Revolutionary 
War,  we  are  unable  to  find  the  exact  dates  of  a  number  of 
events  bearing  upon  the  history  of  the  congregation  and  its 
pastors.  Miihlenberg  did  not  observe  much  improvement  in 
the  town  since  his  first  visit,  but  the  whole  settlement  had  in- 
creased greatly,  so  that  now  there  were  four  churches — Jeru- 
salem, a  stone  structure,  erected  in  1767  in  the  place  of  the 
former  frame  building;  Zion  Church,  four  miles  from  Eben- 
ezer, nearer  to  the  Savannah  River,  and  still  standing;  Goshen, 
ten  miles  below  Ebenezer,  on  the  Savannah  road,  and  served 
then  by  Rabenhorst;  and  Bethany,  in  the  settlement  north  of 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  471 

Ebenezer,  but  abandoned  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  which 
proved  very  disastrous  to  the  whole  colony. 

In  the  evening  of  that  same  day  the  lay  leaders  of  the  two 
parties,  Wertsch  and  Treutlen,  came  to  see  Muhlenberg. 
Triebner,  who  was  present,  took  occasion  to  upbraid  Treut- 
len, who,  however,  maintained  a  dignified  coolness  under 
these  attacks.  On  the  following  day  it  grieved  Muhlenberg 
to  see  that  the  one  party  held  services  in  Mr.  Wertsch's  pri- 
vate dwelling,  while  Rabenhorst  and  his  friends  were  assem- 
bled in  the  Jerusalem  Church.  On  Friday,  Nov.  nth,  Muhl- 
enberg held  a  special  meeting  with  the  two  pastors ;  after 
opening  with  prayer,  he  requested  Rabenhorst  to  state  his 
charges,  to  which  Triebner  responded  in  an  arrogant  man- 
ner, denying  every  charge  and  claiming  in  every  respect  to 
have  acted  as  before  God  in  agreement  with  the  instructions 
given  him  by  the  "  Fathers  "  and  according  to  his  best  know- 
ledge. Muhlenberg  finally  (the  meeting  lasted  six  hours)  tried 
to  persuade  them  to  forgive  each  other,  as  was  the  duty  of 
brethren.  Triebner  admitted,  on  his  part,  no  more  than  that 
he  may  occasionally  have  erred  in  manner,  never  in  matter, 
and  that  he  had  only  carried  out  his  instructions.  Muhlen- 
berg states  that  he  had  reasons  for  not  believing  in  those  in- 
structions. Triebner  only  went  so  far  as  to  say  that  he  was 
willing  to  forgive  the  affronts  offered  him  by  Rabenhorst, 
who,  seeing  Muhlenberg's  embarrassment  and  grief,  broke 
out  in  tears,  freely  offered  his  hand  to  Triebner,  and  after- 
ward accompanied  him  to  his  house.  On  the  following  Sun- 
day, Rabenhorst  and  his  wife  went  with  Muhlenberg  to  the 
house  of  Triebner;  the  three  pastors  proceeded  to  the  Jeru- 
salem Church,  and  were  followed  by  a  crowd  composed  of 
both  parties.  Muhlenberg  preached  on  Luke  vi.  36,  37  ("  Be 
ye  merciful,"  etc.),  and  he  and  Rabenhorst  took  dinner  at 
Triebner's  house.  In  the  afternoon,  however,  Rabenhorst  had 
catechization  with  his  adherents  in  the  Jerusalem  Church ; 
Triebner,  services  with  his  flock  at  Wertsch's. 

It  was  expected  of  Muhlenberg  that  he  would  examine  all 
the  papers  referring  to  the  administration  of  the  trusts  in  the 


4/2  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

hands  of  Rabenhorst,  and  find  out  whether  the  charges  made 
by  Triebner  and  his  adherents  had  any  solid  foundation.  The 
question  was  whether  Rabenhorst  (who,  with  a  colony  of  Wiir- 
tembergers,  had  arrived  at  Ebenezer  in  1752)  was  lawfully 
managing  the  grist-,  saw-  and  rice-stamping-mills  and  the 
lands  appertaining  thereto,  and  whether  he  had  employed 
the  income  thereof  in  the  interest  of  the  congregation,  its 
churches,  schools,  parsonages,  teachers,  widows,  orphans, 
etc.  The  trust  had  first  been  in  the  hands  of  Boltzius. 
He  had  (April  15,  1757)  formally  transferred  it  to  Lembke, 
who  again  (April  30,  1759)  transferred  it  to  Rabenhorst; 
which  (  transfers  were  made  in  good  legal  form.  Funds 
borrowed  for  the  mill  had  been  repaid.  Rabenhorst  never 
intended  to  divert  the  income  arising  from  the  mills  from  its 
original  objects  or  to  use  it  for  his  personal  interest.  He 
derived  his  support  from  a  capital  of  ,£649  1 6s.  5d.  raised 
in  Germany  and  invested  in  farm-lands  at  Ebenezer,  and  for 
which  he  gave  a  bond  certifying  that  this  fund  could  be  used 
for  no  other  purpose  than  for  the  support  of  his  successors. 
We  may  add  that  during  the  Revolutionary  War  the  mills  fell 
into  decay,  and  that  the  lands — once  amounting  to  nine  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  acres — became  wholly  depreciated  in 
value.  When  Triebner  arrived  here  he  soon  spread  the 
report  that  Rabenhorst  had  improperly  got  the  lands  into  his 
possession,  and  had  no  authority  to  manage  the  mills ;  that 
the  principal  in  his  hands  was  not  secure ;  and  that  Triebner, 
Wertsch,  and  others  offered  seven  per  cent,  on  the  capital, 
provided  it  were  given  into  their  hands.  No  wonder  that 
such  reports  produced  considerable  suspicion  and  animosity 
among  the  membership  of  the  congregation.  Miihlenberg 
conscientiously  undertook  the  task  of  sifting  the  accusations, 
examining  all  the  legal  documents,  and  hearing  all  competent 
witnesses.  He  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  Rabenhorst 
could  not  justly  be  charged  with  any  selfish  motive  or  act 
in  administration  of  the  trust ;  that  his  innocence  could  easily 
be  demonstrated  to  all  who  were  not  prevented  from  seeing 
and  appreciating  the  truth  by  prejudice  or  partiality ;  that 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  473 

there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  restoring  peace  and  harmony, 
provided  Triebner  could  be  moved  to  acknowledge  the  wrong 
he  had  done  his  fellow-laborer  and  to  endeavor  to  restore  the 
confidence  he  had  sought  to  destroy.  Miihlenberg  discovered 
that  it  was  Mr.  Wertsch  "  who,  after  the  death  of  Boltzius  and 
Lembke,  always  pretended  to  be  the  factotum"  and  who  had 
allowed  the  grant  to  be  prepared  in  such  a  manner  as  to  place 
Jerusalem  Church  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Anglican  epis- 
copacy. He  had  also  kept  that  document  in  his  hands,  and  had 
never  allowed  any  one  but  Triebtter  and  others  of  his  party  to 
peruse  it.  Muhlenberg  properly  remarks :  "  If  this  great 
mistake  had  been  committed  by  Rabenhorst,  Treutlen,  or 
any  other  one  of  their  friends,  what  an  outcry  of  indigna- 
tion would  have  come  from  Triebner,  Wertsch,  and  their 
adherents,  and  been  proclaimed  to  the  Right  Reverend 
Fathers !" 

Nov.  22d,  Muhlenberg  held  the  first  conference  with  the 
two  pastors  and  six  trustees  of  Ebenezer.  By  presenting  and 
reading  the  respective  documents  it  was  here  clearly  demon- 
strated that  Rabenhorst  had  not  in  any  undue  manner  assumed 
authority,  but  in  his  administration  of  the  properties  entrusted 
to  him  had  acted  in  a  perfectly  unselfish  and  legitimate  way; 
keeping  in  view  the  best  interests  of  the  congregation ;  that, 
on  the  other  hand,  Triebner  and  his  adherents  had  done  great 
wrong  by  circulating  evil  reports  and  again  and  again  charg- 
ing Rabenhorst  with  illegitimate  assumption  of  authority,  by 
irritating  the  people  against  him,  and  by  prohibiting  him  from 
receiving  moneys  from  those  indebted.  But  on  this  occasion 
Muhlenberg  refrained  from  pronouncing  upon  Triebner  that 
judgment  which  he  deserved.  Privately  he  gave  him  serious 
admonition,  without,  however,  being  able  to  bring  him  to  the 
acknowledgment  of  his  wrong-doing.  Rabenhorst  was  able 
also  to  lay  before  the  conference  all  his  accounts  concerning 
the  mills,  and  to  show  a  balance  of  £229  i6s.  2d. 

On  the  following  day  Muhlenberg  held  another  conference 
with  the  two  pastors,  the  officers,  and  a  number  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  congregation.  Triebner  and  his  party  here  mani- 


4/4  LIFE-  AND    TIMES  OF     • 

Tested  so  unconciliatory  and  turbulent  a  spirit  that  Miihlen- 
berg  declared  it  futile  for  him  longer  to  stay  and  labor.  This 
had  the  effect  of,  to  some  extent,  changing  the  attitude  taken 
by  Wertsch  and  other  adherents  of  Triebner — not,  however, 
of  moving  Triebner  to  anything  else  than  to  admonish  his 
opponents  to  repentance,  while  Rabenhorst  gave  the  strong- 
est evidence  that  he  was  willing  to  forgive  and  forget.  Miihl- 
enberg  was  now  fully  convinced  that  this  man  Triebner  was 
inaccessible  to  every  principle  of  truth  and  charity  and  could 
not  be  moved  to  enter  upon  the  path  of  humility  and  peace. 
It  was,  however,  agreed  that  both  parties  should  unitedly  hold 
services  in  the  Jerusalem  Church.  We  take  occasion  here 
to  state  that  Miihlenberg  frequently  speaks  of  Mrs.  Triebner 
in  the  highest  terms.  He  speaks  in  the  same  manner  of  Mrs. 
Rabenhorst,  who  was  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Brands,  a  member  of 
the  congregation  lately  deceased. 

During  the  month  of  December,  Miihlenberg  was  busy  in 
preparing  for  the  Ebenezer  congregation  an  improved  consti- 
tution which  might  in  future  serve  to  prevent  many  of  these 
troublesome  complications.  Triebner  handed  him  a  plan  of 
such  a  constitution  of  his  own  making.  It  was  a  very  volum- 
inous document,  and  for  this  reason  was  impractical.  Miihl- 
enberg also  found  in  the  Ebenezer  or  Saltzburger  Reports, 
edited  by  the  late  Dr.  Urlsperger,  Jr.,  many  suggestions  con- 
cerning the  administration  and  the  discipline  of  the  congrega- 
tion which  essentially  coincided  with  his  own  views  and  pro- 
posals on  this  subject.  He  also  prepared  an  extensive  re- 
port, which  he  intended  to  send  to  Dr.  Ziegenhagen  and  to 
Dr.  Urlsperger,  Jr.,  who  had  sent  Triebner  to  Ebenezer,  and 
who  appeared  to  entertain  of  him  a  much  higher  opinion  than 
he  deserved.  Triebner  was  indeed  expected  to  send  reports 
.  on  the  state  of  affairs  in  Ebenezer  to  Germany,  of  which  op- 
portunity he  made  a  very  extended  but  most  unjust  use  by 
calumniating  Rabenhorst  and  by  the  suppression  and  misrep- 
resentation of  many  facts.  In  connection  with  this,  Miihlen- 
berg says  that  Dr.  Ziegenhagen  never  permitted  missionaries, 
in  the  earlier  years  of  their  labor  in  foreign  countries,  to  send 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  475 

reports  of  their  internal  or  external  condition,  being  persuaded 
that  it  needed  time  and  experience  to  reach  a  reliable  conclu- 
sion. He  adds  that  during  the  first  years  of  a  residence  in  a 
foreign  country,  under  wholly  new  circumstances,  a  man  is 
blind  and  judges  affairs  and  conditions  by  the  standard  of  his 
own  native  country :  at  first,  seeing  but  the  surface  of  things, 
he  makes  hasty  conclusions  and  gives  definitions  and  descrip- 
tions which  after  some  time,  from  a  larger  experience,  he  is 
obliged  to  change. 

We  hardly  need  remark  that  during  his  stay  at  Ebenezer 
Muhlenberg  frequently  conducted  public  services  in  the  vari- 
ous churches  of  the  congregation.  He  and  Mrs.  Muhlenberg 
suffered  during  that  winter,  from  the  very  changeable  climate, 
attacks  of  fever  and  bther  diseases.  Jan.  10,  1775,  Muhlen- 
berg received  a  letter  from  his  son  Frederick  of  New  York 
informing  him  that  the  Lutheran  pastors  in  the  province  in- 
tended to  hold  their  first  conference  the  next  April.  This 
indicates  the  primal  move  in  the  direction  of  establishing  a 
New  York  synod;  the  undertaking  was  accomplished  in 
1786. 

Muhlenberg  was  much  gratified  in  seeing  that  Rabenhorst 
most  willingly  gave  a  legal  bond  by  which  all  the  church 
property  under  his  sole  care  and  control,  but  not  secured 
against  legal  difficulties  in  case  of  his  death,  should  in  this 
event  revert  as  a  trust  to  Urlsperger  of  Augsburg,  G.  A. 
Freylinghausen  of  Halle,  and  Ziegenhagen  of  London  as  the 
founders  of  the  principal  involved  in  Ebenezer,  the  interest 
of  which  formed  the  pastor's  salary.  Muhlenberg  took  care 
to  state  in  this  bond  that  the  pastor  who  should  subsequently 
enjoy  the  benefit  of  the  interest  of  the  principal  (amounting 
to  ^649  1 6s.  5d.)  was  to  be  "a  regular  Protestant  minister, 
professing  the  Protestant  Lutheran  doctrine  according  to  the 
AugsbuFg  Confession  and  Liturgy,  in  and  about  Ebenezer  in 
Georgia."  In  the  same  manner,  at  the  instigation  of  Muhl- 
enberg, J.  C.  Wertsch — who  held  a  sum  of  three  hundred 
pounds,  collected  in  part  by  Urlsperger,  in  part  by  Ziegen- 
hagen, in  behalf  of  the  Ebenezer  congregation — gave  his  legal 


476  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

• 

bond  to  both  these  originators  of  this  trust  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  capital  should  for  ever  be  secured  to  the  benefit  of 
the  Lutheran  congregation  at  Ebenezer.  Both  these  bonds 
were  recorded  in  the  office  of  the  provincial  secretary  at 
Savannah.  Before  leaving  Georgia,  Miihlenberg  made  all 
possible  efforts  to  have  the  wording  of  the  above-mentioned 
grant  changed  which  placed  the  Ebenezer  congregation  and 
the  Jerusalem  Church  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  but  could  not  consummate  his  purpose. 

On  Thursday,  Jan.  12,  1775,  a  meeting  of  the  vestry  was  held, 
at  which  were  present  the  trustees  and  the  church- officers 
(Vorsteher)  with  the  two  pastors.  In  addition  to  other  trans- 
actions, it  was  resolved  to  hold  a  meeting  of  the  congregation 
on  Monday,  Jan.  i6th,  to  read  the  proposed  constitution  and 
to  request  the  assent  and  the  subscription  of  the  members. 
Invitation  being  given  by  Miihlenberg  after  preaching  in  Jeru- 
salem Church  on  Sunday^  the  meeting  took  place  at  ten  o'clock 
A.  M.  the  following  day.  After  prayer  and  some  preliminary 
business,  Miihlenberg  read  the  proposed  constitution  as  it 
had  already  been  subscribed  (Dec.  28,  1774)  by  the  two  pas- 
tors, the  trustees,  the  officers,  and  a  few  church-members. 
The  reading  of  the  document — which  in  many  points  is  simi- 
lar to  the  constitution  adopted  in  Philadelphia,  and  in  which 
Miihlenberg  wisely  had  embodied  what  could  be  usefully  ap- 
plied from  Triebner's  proposed  sketch — required  a  full  hour. 
No  voice  of  opposition  was  heard,  and  in  the  presence  of  Miihl- 
enberg about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  members,  inclusive 
of  those  who  formerly  had  given  their  names,  signed  the  docu- 
ment. It  grieves  us  to  report  that  Triebner,  who  had  seemed 
to  be  in  full  harmony  with  the  new  constitution,  after  a  few 
days  fell  into  a  paroxysm  of  regret,  thought  that  that  document 
could  not  be  carried  out  in  the  administration  of  the  congre- 
gation, and  placed  his  own  views  above  its  principles  and  its 
stipulations.  Perhaps  it  was  a  fortunate  circumstance  that  a 
short  time  after  Miihlenberg  departed  from  Ebenezer  the  con- 
gregation, meeting  at  Jerusalem  Church,  deposed  Triebner 
from  the  pastoral  office.  He  was  under  a  dreadful  suspicion 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  477 

of  immorality,  and  was  not  in  the  condition  to  prove  his  inno- 
cence. He  kept  a  small  number  of  personal  adherents  under 
his  control  and  for  a  time  continued  to  hold  services  with  them 
in  a  private  house.  When,  about  the  year  1777,  Rabenhorst 
died,  Triebner  regained  some  of  his  former  influence,  and 
made  efforts  to  disconnect  Ebenezer  from  the  authority  and 
supervision  of  the  "  Fathers  "  in  Europe.  When  Rev.  Chris- 
tian Streit,  in  1778  called  as  pastor  to  the  Charleston  con- 
gregation, in  the  same  year  paid  a  visit  to  Ebenezer,  Trieb- 
ner was  still  at  the  head  of  a  party,  and  in  the  following  year, 
as  a  letter  of  Streit  to  Miihlenberg  informs 'us,  was  again 
acknowledged  as  pastor  by  the  congregation.  But  his  strong 
Toryism  and  the  fact  that  he  had  moved  the  citizens  of  Eben- 
ezer— who  had  been  entirely  in  favor  of  independence — to 
swear  allegiance  to  the  English  Crown,  made  him  most  ob- 
noxious to  the  American  government.  He  was  made  a  pris- 
oner, in  1782  was  excluded  from  the  proclamation  of  pardon, 
and  spent,  as  Miihlenberg  in  1783  states,  his  time  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  St.  Augustine  in  Florida,  but  soon  left  there 
and  went  to  England,  where  he  died  in  old  age  and  in 
oblivion.  By  way  of  contrast  we  may  state  when,  in  1764, 
the  governor  of  the  province  commanded  him  to  commend 
the  Stamp  Act,  Rev.  Rabenhorst  answered  that  he  thought 
it  not  his  duty  to  agitate  political  questions,  but  to  preach  re- 
pentance, faith,  and  godliness  to  his  people,  and  hoped  thereby 
to  contribute  his  share  to  make  them  good  citizens. 

Monday,  Feb.  6,  1775,  Miihlenberg,  with  his  wife  and 
daughter,  left  Ebenezer  for  Savannah,  accompanied  by 
Rabenhorst  and  eight  male  and  two  female  companions  on 
horseback. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  much  good  resulted  from  this  visit 
to  Ebenezer.  Miihlenberg  was  fully  persuaded  that  the 
unwise  and  unchristian  behavior  of  Triebner  was  the  main 
cause  of  all  the  troubles  in  the  congregation.  Besides  Trieb- 
ner's  unwillingness  to  acknowledge  the  error  of  his  way,  his 
impetuosity  and  his  vanity  prevented  the  consummation  of 
the  great  objects  Miihlenberg  had  in  view — viz.  to  re-estab- 


4/8  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

lish  harmony  and  peace  among  all  the  people,  and  to  bring 
the  congregation  into  a  condition  of  lasting  peace,  regularity, 
and  order.  Much,  however,  was  accomplished.  Rabenhorst's 
Christian  character  was  vindicated,  and  his  pastoral  authority 
was  greatly  increased ;  a  good  practical  constitution  was  intro- 
duced ;  the  foundation  of  a  happy  progress  and  increase  of 
the  church  was  laid,  and  its  financial  affairs  were  placed  upon 
a  better  footing.  That  the  events  of  the  turbulent  days  and 
years  of  war  greatly  interfered  with  the  quiet  development 
of  the  congregation, — this  no  human  wisdom  could  foresee, 
no  human  power  prevent. 

At  Savannah,  Muhlenberg  and  the  members  of  his  family 
again  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  Mr.  Millen.  Wednesday, 
Feb.  8th,  Rabenhprst  bade  farewell :  by  his  religious  fervor, 
his  sincerity,  unaffected  humility,  and  conciliatory  spirit  he 
had  for  ever  gained  the  respect  and  the  fraternal  love  of  Muhl- 
enberg. The  time  until  Friday,  Feb.  i/th,  was  employed  by 
Muhlenberg  in  visiting  the  representatives  of  the  government, 
and  in  influencing  them  as  well  as  he  could  in  behalf  of  Eb- 
enezer.  He  was  politely  received  and  heard  many  pleasant 
words,  but  beyond  this  nothing  was  accomplished.  '  Muhl- 
enberg had  no  command  of  those  means  which  even  in 
diplomatic  offices  often  move  heads  and  hands.  He.  also 
again  enjoyed  the  intercourse  and  the  hospitality  of  the 
enthusiastic  Dr.  Ziibly.  By  him  and  other  friends  he  was 
strongly  advised  to  delay  his  departure  until  spring,  and  not 
to  risk  an  ocean-voyage  during  the  stormy  season.  To  this 
advice  he  opposed  his  firm  trust  in  God's  providence.  Mrs. 
Muhlenberg  also  was  very  desirous  of  returning  to  her  own 
house  and  family  at  Philadelphia.  Feb.  I7th,  with  their  daugh- 
ter, they  went  on  board  the  small  ship  which  was  to  carry 
them  to  Philadelphia.  Days  of  misery  again  came  for  father 
and  for  daughter,  and  to  them  the  vessel  was  an  instrument 
of  torture.  March  2d  they  were  about  sixty  miles  from  Cape 
Henlopen  when  a  violent  north-west  storm  drove  them  one 
hundred  miles  out  into  the  open  sea.  Having  finally  reached 
Delaware  Bay,  they  rejoiced  in  hearing  that  the  river  was 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  479 

open  all  the  way  up  to  Philadelphia,  but  in  consequence  of 
the  false  reckoning  of  the  pilot  the  ship  ran  upon  a  sand- 
bank, and  to  get  her  afloat  they  were  obliged  to  unload  a 
large  quantity  of  rice.  Monday,  March  6th,  at  noon,  Phila- 
delphia was  reached.  Miihlenberg  and  his  companions  hurried 
to  their  home  and  family,  richer  in  experience  and  grateful  to 
God  for  their  preservation. 


480  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER    XXVTII. 

1773-1775  (continued']. 

Sickness  of  Dr.  Kunze. — Political  aspects. — Reports  and  insinuations  against 
Miihlenberg. — He  visits  Reading,  Tulpehoken,  Pikestown. — The  Germans 
of  Philadelphia  in  the  political  conflict. — Christopher  Ludwig. — Miihlenberg's 
opinion  of  General  Washington. — The  Hebron  congregation  in  Virginia. — 
H.  Moeller. — J.  Frank. — Acquisition  of  a  cemetery  by  the  Philadelphia  con- 
gregation. 

THE  return  of  Miihlenberg  and  his  wife  was  most  timely. 
For  six  weeks  their  son-in-law,  Rev.  J.  C.  Kunze,  had 
been  disabled  by  sickness  from  doing  any  pastoral  work.  To 
him  and  his  wife  a  daughter  had  been  born  during  the  ab- 
sence of  the  grandparents,  but  was  after  a  few  days  taken 
from  them.  Rev.  G.  Henry  E.  Muhlenberg  was  also  in  a  debil- 
itated condition.  The  burden  of  the  large  congregation  just 
in  the  winter  season,  when  the  numerous  class  of  catechumens 
required  close  attention,  had  to  the  utmost  tasked  his  physical 
strength. 

There  were  other  circumstances  which  required  the  pres- 
ence of  Muhlenberg  on  his  ordinary  field  of  action.  The 
relations  between  the  American  provinces  and  the  mother- 
country  were  in  a  condition  of  fermentation,  and  the  future 
was  most  insecure.  Party  spirit  rose  to  a  height  before  un- 
known, and  the  passions  were  violently  excited.  That  the 
measures  carried  out  by  the  English  government  were  unwise 
and  calculated  to  irritate  the  inhabitants  of  the  provinces 
could  not  be  disputed.  In  feelings  averse  to  England  all 
shared.  As  to  the  measures  for  defending  the  American 
cause  and  for  counteracting  the  despotic  sway  of  England 
opinions  differed.  It  was  natural  that  many  individuals,  es- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR   MUHLENBERG.  481 

pecially  those  serving  the  cause  of  religion  and  the  Church, 
would  not  utter  their  sentiments  in  so  critical  a  period,  what- 
ever may  have  been  their  personal  convictions.  Those  who, 
under  the  influence  of  a  peculiar  situation,  advance  ideas  op- 
posite to  the  popular  and  prevailing  views  during  turbulent 
times  are  exposed  to  the  most  senseless,  often  injurious,  re- 
ports and  judgments.  In  those  days  the  position  of  many  of 
the  clergy  was  a  peculiarly  difficult  one.  The  pastors  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  who  were  sent  as  missionaries  from  Eng- 
land, had  sworn  allegiance  to  the  Crown,  and  were  to  a  large 
extent  dependent  on  the  contributions  from  England  for  their 
subsistence,  especially  labored  under  great  difficulties,  and 
numbers  of  them  suffered  terrible  treatment  at  the  hands  of 
the  populace. 

Miihlenberg  also  came  in  for  a  share  of  very  foolish  and 
malignant  reports  and  insinuations.  At  the  request  of  the 
officers  of  the  Reading,  New  Hanover,  and  Pikestown  con- 
gregations, he  travelled  (May  24,  1775)  to  New  Hanover, 
where  dissensions  threatened  to  do  much  harm ;  preached, 
and  with  the  assistance  of  Voigt,  the  pastor  loci,  held  the 
Lord's  Supper ;  he  had  conference  with  the  officers  of  the 
church,  and  then  left  for  Reading,  where  a  vacancy  existed 
and  where  his  advice  was  wranted.  There  he  preached  (May 
28th)  to  a  great  concourse  of  people,  whose  curiosity  was 
greatly  excited.  He  says  in  his  diary,  "  My  wilful  and 
unfair  enemies  in  their  hatred  had  spread  gross  calumnies 
against  me  throughout  the  whole  province  and  neighboring 
provinces,  among  the  ignorant  people,  concerning  my  tour  to 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia :  the  egg  was  hatched  at  Read- 
ing, because  I  was  unwilling  to  serve  the  purposes  of  a  num- 
ber of  vain  pretenders  and  did  not  at  once  remove  from  them 
that  right-minded  man,  Pastor  Krug.  It  was  reported  that  I 
corresponded  with  the  court-preachers  at  London,  and  intend- 
ed by  their  influence  to  introduce  tithes  here.  This  arrow 
was  intended  for  our  poor  ministry.  When,  finally,  during 
last  year,  the  acts  of  Parliament  were  promulgated  here,  the 
axe  was  laid  to  the  root  of  the  tree,  and  I,  with  a  part  of  my 

31 


482  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

family,  left  this  part  of  the  country,  the  mephitic  vapors  broke 
loose  and  spread  to  their  greatest  length,  width,  height,  and 
depth.  Among  other  things  it  was  stated  that  the  king  had 
turned  Papist  and  Miihlenberg  was  called  to  read  Mass  for 
him ;  also  that  Miihlenberg  ran  away  to  escape  hanging  by 
the  people,  but  God's  vengeance  did  not  allow  him  to  escape, 
as  he  suffered  shipwreck  between  South  Carolina  and  Georgia, 
and  was  drowned.  True  friends  were  grieved  by  these  things ; 
hesitating  men  thought  it  might  be  possible;  the  envious  took 
it  as  true,  and  their  rejoicing  was  like  the  crackling  of  thorns 
under  the  pots.  The  worst  elements  came  to  rest  at  my  final 
return,  yet  many  still  believed  the  rumor  that  in  Philadelphia 
I  had  been  tarred  and  feathered,  put  upon  a  rail,  carried  about, 
and  drummed  out  of  the  city.  Some  people  coming  from  dis- 
tant localities  even  asked  me  whether  there  was  truth  in  the 
rumor."  After  service  Miihlenberg  requested  all  male  mem- 
bers to  remain,  and  in  a  meeting  took  their  votes  on  Rev.  H. 
Moeller,  who  a  short  time  before  had  visited  and  preached 
there.  He  was  elected  by  a  large  majority. 

On  this  occasion  Miihlenberg  also  paid  a  visit  to  his  son-in- 
law,  the  Rev.  Christian  Em.  Schulze,  at  Tulpehoken,  whom  he 
found  very  active  among  his  numerous  congregations,  some 
of  which,  according  to  Miihlenberg's  judgment,  he  ought  to 
vacate ;  but,  he  adds,  the  danger  is  that  vagabonds  may  creep 
in  and  try  to  make  as  much  mischief  as  they  can.  After  three 
days  of  rest  with  his  daughter  and  her  husband  and  of  pleas- 
ure with  his  two  grandchildren,  on  his  way  to  Reading  he  was 
asked  by  a  German  coming  from  Virginia,  and  whom  he  had 
known  thirty  years  before,  "  How  is  it  that  you  German  Lu- 
theran ministers  cause  such  misfortune,  betray  the  liberties  of 
this  country,  and  instigate  war  ?"  Among  other  good  things, 
Muhlenberg  told  him  that  the  emperor  Nero  had  set  fire  to 
the  city  of  Rome  and  then  blamed  the  Christians  for  it, 
in  order  to  have  a  pretext  for  their  persecution.  On  the  fol- 
lowing Sunday  (Whitsunday,  June  4th),  Muhlenberg  assisted 
in  the  dedication  of  the  recently-erected  fine  stone  church  at 
Pikestown,  and  preached,  "  in  consideration  of  the  present 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  483 

warlike  times,"  on  I  Kings  viii.  37—39  and  2  Chron.  vii.  12— 
14.  On  this  festival  occasion  also  the  Rev.  W.  Currie,  mis- 
sionary of  the  Anglican  Church,  and  the  pastor  of  the  German 
Reformed  congregation  were  invited  to  make  addresses.  Muhl- 
enberg  says  this  was  done  because  the  Lutherans  lived  in  pleas- 
ant neighborly  relations  with  both  these  parties.  He  had  prom- 
ised to  return  to  Reading  to  preach  there  on  Trinity  Sunday, 
June  nth.  At  the  proper  time  some  prominent  members  of 
the  vestry  delegated  by  that  body  came  to  his  lodgings  for- 
mally to  conduct  him  to  the  church.  In  the  same  manner  they 
conducted  him  on  his  return  to  his  lodgings,  to  show  him  their 
respect.  Viewing  this  in  contrast  with  the  disgraceful  rumors 
before  spread,  he  says,  "At  one  time  Haman  wants  to  put  Mor- 
decai  and  his  brethren  out  of  the  way ;  at  another  time  he  car- 
ries him  on  a  horse  through  the  town  and  has  it  proclaimed 
that  thus  shall  it  be  done  unto  the  man  whom  the  king  de~ 
lighteth  to  honor"  (Esth.  vi.  9).  On  his  return  to  Philadel- 
phia, Miihlenberg  found  that  the  men  were  everywhere  en- 
gaged in  military  exercises,  and  that  even  small  boys,  formed 
into  companies,  were  marching  to  the  music  of  drums  and 
held  toy  guns  in  their  hands.  The  political  excitement  was 
universal  and  intense. 

We  know  that  in  all  matters  appertaining  to  this  department 
Miihlenberg  was  exceedingly  careful,  and  that  he  kept  out  of 
the  arena  in  which  even  victory  was  bought  at  a  very  high 
price  by  servants  of  the  Church.  But  notwithstanding,  as 
Dr.  Kunze  states,  a  Philadelphia  publication  of  1777  charged 
him  and  another  clergyman  with  being  the  instigators  of  the 
whole  rebellion  against  England.  This  calumny  made  his 
living  in  Providence,  twenty-six  miles  from  Philadelphia,  inse- 
cure, since  at  that  time  the  English  had  possession  of  Phila- 
delphia. He  consistently  restricts  himself  in  his  diaries  to 
taking  the  religious  aspects  of  the  social  and  political  phe- 
nomena. Believing  in  a  divine  government  of  the  world,  he 
sees  in  national  calamities — war,  pestilence,  etq. — the  chastis- 
ing hand  of  God,  and  applies  this,  under  the  circumstances, 
to  the  American  provinces.  Yet  here  and  there,  under  the 


484  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

excitement  of  those  days,  he  cannot  refrain  from  referring  to 
the  threatening  aspect  of  the  political  horizon,  and  to  the 
opinions  which  were  pronounced  by  this  and  that  party.  A 
considerable  number  of  people  thought  that  England,  seeing 
the  martial  spirit  of  the  Americans  aroused  through  all  the 
provinces,  would  never  risk  a  destructive  war  against  her  own 
children.  But  Muhlenberg  refers  to  the  mother  who  during 
the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  when  suffering  the  agonies  of  hunger, 
ate  her  own  child,  and  in  a  manner  certainly  not  very  com- 
plimentary to  England  adds  that,  "  as  naturalists  and  farmers 
know,  occasionally  a  sow  will  devour  some  of  her  own  litter ; 
whence  it  is  difficult  to  decide  whether  she  acts  thus  from  love 
or  hatred."  In  many  parts  of  his  diary  Muhlenberg  in  this 
period  begins  to  enter  upon  political  reflections  and  observa- 
tions, but  the  leaves  where  he  probably  had  given  utterance 
to  his  views  and  feelings  are  carefully  cut  out,  and  we  have 
reason  to  suppose  that  it  was  done  by  no  hand  but  his  own. 
He  seriously  considers  the  question  of  what  might  become 
of  the  properties  which  in  Philadelphia  were  mortgaged  to 
the  legacies  sent  from  Halle,  and  with  reference  to  it  addressed 
the  "  Fathers."  In  his  peculiar  and  quaint  style  he  says  that 
it  had  to  be  decided  whether  under  the  existing  troubles  and 
dangers  the  Lutheran  Church,  considering  that  her  property 
and  existence  here  were  involved,  should  now  "conjugate  in 
activo,  passivo,  or  neutro."  There  is  no  doubt  that  during  the 
struggle  the  Lutherans  generally  preferred  the  "  activum." 

Very  interesting  notices  concerning  the  position  taken  in 
that  decisive  political  conflict  by  the  Germans  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  especially  by  the  Lutherans,  we  owe  to  the  skilful  and 
diligent  hand  of  Dr.  O.  Seidensticker,  professor  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania.  In  his  History  of  the  German  Society  of 
Pennsylvania  (Philadelphia,  1876)  he  states  that  in  1775  the 
vestries  of  the  German  Lutheran  and  Reformed  churches  at 
Philadelphia  sent  a  pamphlet  of  forty  pages  to  the  German 
inhabitants  of  the  provinces  of  New  York  and  North  Carolina, 
wherein  it  is  stated  that  in  the  near  and  remote  parts  of  Penn- 
sylvania the  Germans  have  distinguished  themselves  by  form- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  485 

ing  not  only  militia,  but  a  select  corps  of  sharpshooters  ready 
to  march  wherever  they  are  required,  while  those  who  cannot 
do  military  service  are  willing  to  contribute  according  to  their 
abilities.  The  pamphlet  continues  :  "  For  this  reason  we  are 
grieved  to  learn  that  it  was  stated  before  Congress  that  divers 
German  people  in  Tryon  county  and  some  few  in  other  places 
in  the  colony  of  New  York  do  not  give  their  sympathy  to  the 
common  cause,  and  that  many  Germans  in  North  Carolina  are  of 
the  same  mind."  The  pamphlet  endeavors  to  demonstrate  that 
all  citizens  of  the  colonies  ought  to  carry  out  the  measures  taken 
by  Congress,  then  assembled  at  Philadelphia,  and  that  every- 
where throughout  the  land  the  people  ought  to  rise  in  arms 
against  the  despotism  and  the  oppression  of  the  English  gov- 
ernment. Can  we  wonder  that  a  spirited  young  man  like 
Peter  Miihlenberg,  a  member  of  the  German  Lutheran  con- 
gregation at  Philadelphia,  with  his  brothers,  who  moved  in 
the  same  circle,  there  imbibed  the  spirit  of  freedom  and  de- 
voted themselves  to  the  noble  cause  of  making  their  native 
country  a  free,  independent  nation  ?  The  volunteers  in  Penn- 
sylvania were  then  called  "  Associators."  The  Germans  among 
*  them  at  Philadelphia  had  their  headquarters  at  the  Lutheran 
school-house  in  Cherry  street  east  of  Fourth.  In  1776  a  Ger- 
man regiment  was  formed  by  order  of  Congress.  It  would  be 
injustice  not  to  mention  in  this  connection  the  German  patriot 
Christopher  Ludwig,  general  baker  for  the  army,  who,  by  giv- 
ing the  American  soldiers  honest  bread,  with  many  other 
manifestations  of  his  excellent,  unselfish  character,  contrib- 
uted his  share  to  the  triumph  of  liberty,  and  to  whom,  with 
proper  appreciation,  Washington  used  to  refer  as  his  "  honest 
friend."  Ludwig  was  a  faithful  member  of  the  German  Lu- 
theran congregation  and  vestry.  He  habitually  kept  six  poor 
children  at  school  at  his  own  expense,  and  proved  his  charity 
in  various  other  ways. 

It  may  be  proper  here  to  refer  to  the  fact  that  Muhlenberg 
ever  entertained  an  exalted  reverence  for  George  Washing- 
ton, and  on  various  occasions  expresses  himself  in  this  way. 
As  to  the  Farewell  Address  delivered  by  Washington  when 


486  LIFE   AND    TIMES   OF 

resigning  his  high  military  office  in  1783  after  the  conclusion 
of  the  Peace  of  Paris,  Miihlenberg  embodies  in  his  diary  of 
July  28th  his  admiration  of  the  wisdom  of  the  advice  given, 
and  copies  the  concluding  words  :  "  I  now  make  it  my  earnest 
prayer  that  God  would  have  you  and  the  State  over  which 
you  preside  in  his  holy  protection ;  that  he  would  incline  the 
hearts  of  the  citizens  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of  subordination  and 
obedience  to  government,  to  entertain  a  brotherly  affection 
and  love  for  one  another,  for  their  fellow-citizens  of  the  United 
States  at  large,  and  particularly  for  their  brethren  who  have 
served  in  the  field  ;  and  finally,  that  he  would  most  graciously 
be  pleased  to  dispose  us  all  to  do  justice,  to  have  mercy,  and 
to  demean  ourselves  with  that  charity,  humanity,  and  pacific 
temper  of  mind  which  were  characteristics  of  the  divine  Au- 
thor of  our  blessed  religion,  and  without  a  humble  imitation 
of  whose  example  in  these  things  we  can  never  hope  to  be  a 
happy  nation."  Miihlenberg  fully  appreciates  the  man  in 
exalted  position  who  openly  professes  Christ  before  men — a 
thing,  he  says,  "  so  rare  in  the  present  generation  of  this  so- 
called  great  world."  He  adds  a  quotation  from  Luther :  "  The 
souls  of  great  men  of  the  world  will  be  in  heaven  as  rare  as 
venison  on  the  poor  man's  table." 

During  the  year  1775  the  old  Hebron  congregation  at  Cul- 
peper,  Va.,  once  served  by  the  elder  J.  C.  Stoever,  and  after 
his  death  by  Sam.  Klug,  again  became  a  care  to  Miihlenberg. 
His  son  Peter,  from  1772  active  in  pastoral  work  at  Wood- 
stock in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  Va.,  when  paying  a  visit  to 
Philadelphia  in  1774,  before  his  parents  started  for  Georgia, 
confirmed  the  reports  concerning  the  destitute  condition  of 
that  congregation  that  had  reached  Pennsylvania.  At  that 
time  also  Henry  Moeller,  already  known  to  us,  had  arrived  at 
Philadelphia  with  good  recommendations  from  Rev.  W.  Graaf 
of  Hackensack,  and  for  some  time  enjoyed  the  instruction  of 
Kunze;  he  had  also  well  employed  his  time  and  opportu- 
nities, and  to  some  extent  had  qualified  himself  for  the  min- 
isterial office.  The  people  at  Culpeper  being  very  anxious  to 
have  a  pastor,  Miihlenberg  gave  to  his  son  a  license  for  him, 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  487 

and  Moeller  soon  after  received  a  call  from  the  Culpeper  con- 
gregation. In  1775,  on  a  tour  to  Philadelphia,  where  he  was 
engaged  to  be  married  to  a  widow,  he  visited  Rev.  J.  N.  Kurtz 
at  York,  then  praeses  of  synod.  At  his  request  he  went  by 
the  way  of  Reading,  and  there,  after  having  preached,  received 
a  call  from  that  church.  His  betrothed  not  being  willing  to 
go  to  Virginia,  he  relinquished  his  call  to  Culpeper,  intimat- 
ing that  he  acted  in  agreement  with  the  wishes  of  H.  M.  Muhl- 
enberg — a  statement  which  was  unauthorized.  In  consequence 
of  this  the,  people  at  Culpeper  were  considerably  incensed 
against  Muhlenberg,  as  his  son  Peter  informed  him.  At  the 
request  of  his  father,  Peter  Muhlenberg  again  visited  the  He- 
bron congregation,  and  then  came  to  Philadelphia  to  report. 
There  was  no  parochial  school  open  at  Hebron;  there  were 
no  regular  services,  no  singing,  no  praying,  no  preaching,  no 
administration  of  the  sacraments ;  the  church  and  parsonage 
were  empty  and  the  glebe  was  neglected ;  no  Lutheran  pas- 
tors were  near  enough  to  aid  the  congregation.  Under  these 
circumstances  Miihlenberg's  thoughts  were  directed  to  Mr.  J. 
Frank,  since  1 767  a  teacher  in  the  parochial  school  of  the  German 
Lutheran  church  at  Philadelphia — a  man  of  excellent  character, 
a  good  singer,  not  without  the  necessary  erudition,  of  much 
experience  as  a  teacher,  of  pleasing  address,  and  not  without 
spiritual  life.  Muhlenberg  ariW  his  son  Peter  encouraged 
Frank  to  enter  the  pastoral  service.  During  August,  1775, 
Frank  paid  a  visit  to  Peter  Muhlenberg  at  Woodstock,  and 
then  went  to  Culpeper,  where  (Aug.  28th)  a  call  was  given 
him,  with  the  request  that  he  should  at  once  settle  there. 
Having  returned  to  Philadelphia,  he  was  examined  by  Muhl- 
enberg and  his  sons  Frederick  (then  on  a  visit  from  New 
York)  and  Henry,  and  licensed  by  Muhlenberg,  senior  of  the 
ministerium.  Kurtz,  then  praeses  of  synod,  was  requested  to 
approve  of  this  action.  Frank  served  three  years  at  Culpeper. 
In  1783,  Paul  Henkel,  great-grandson  of  Gerhard  Henkel, 
formerly  mentioned,  began  in  Virginia  his  useful  labors,  which 
included  the  Culpeper  church. 

The  increase  of  the  Philadelphia  congregation — which  in 


LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

1775  numbered  no  less  than  six  hundred  families — made  the 
acquisition  of  a  more  extensive  parochial  burial-ground  most 
desirable.     The  cemetery,  situated  at  the  north  side  of  St. 
Michael's  Church   and   belonging  to  the  congregation,  had 
hitherto  been  sufficient  for  the  necessities  of  the  membership, 
but  it  could  not  be  expected  that  the  congregation  would  be 
numerically  reduced,  and  provision  had  to  be  made  for  future 
necessities.     Through  his  friend  the  Rev.  Rich.  Peters,  D.  D., 
rector  of  Christ  Church,    Miihlenberg   addressed   Governor 
John  Penn  in  behalf  of  his  congregation,  which,  though  still 
under  a  heavy  debt  in  consequence  of  the  erection  of  Zion 
Church,  could  pay  a  reasonable  price  for  a  suitable  piece  of 
ground.    The  times,  however,  were  not  propitious.    The  polit- 
ical excitement  greatly  disturbed  all  trades  and  commerce  was 
prostrated.      In  this  matter  Muhlenberg  also  addressed  the 
Hon.  James   Tilghman,  secretary  of  the  provincial  council, 
and  requested  his  kind  assistance.     The  congregation  had  in 
view  a  piece  of  ground  belonging  to  the  governor,  now  bound- 
ed by  Eighth  and  Franklin,  Vine  and  Race  streets.     A  part 
•of  it  came  into  the  possession  of  the  congregation  as  early  as 

1776  for  the  sum  of  five  hundred  pounds,  Pennsylvania  cur- 
rency, the  governor  retaining  for  himself  the  ground  adjacent 
to  Vine  street,  south  side,  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  deep. 
The  political  leaning  of  the  Gterman  Lutherans  in  those  times 
was  probably  not  pleasing  to  him,  and  made  him  rather  un- 
willing to  show  any  particular  favor  to  them.     When  the  con- 
gregation was  made  owner  of  that  ground,  the  vestry  allowed 
the  membership  to  bury  in  it,  but  never  gave  any  deed  for  a 
grave  or  a  lot.     The  value  of  the  ground  continually  rising 
with  the  increase  of  the  city,  the  congregation  in  1865  trans- 
ferred the  dead  buried  there  to  the  ground  bought  in  1859  in 
Hart  Lane  (Lehigh  avenue),  west  of  Ridge  avenue,  sold  most 
of  the  property  between  Eighth  and  Franklin  streets,  assisted 
other  congregations  growing  out  of  the  mother-church  with 
a  large  part  of  the  proceeds,  and  finally,  in  1869  and  the  fol- 
lowing year,  erected   in    Franklin  street,  opposite  Franklin 
Square,  the   new   Zion  Church   and  parsonage,  and  subse- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  489 

quently  the  school-house  north  of  the  church.  After  these 
great  changes  the  old  St.  Michael  and  Zion  were  sold,  and 
those  time-honored  and  revered  landmarks  disappeared.  The 
old  school-house  also,  from  whose  belfry  during  the  week  the 
children  of  successive  generations  had  been  called  to  school, 
and  on  Sunday  the  congregation  to  the  two  churches  stand- 
ing in  close  proximity,  was  sold,  and  the  larger  portion  of 
its  walls  is  incorporated  in  a  commercial  building  now  occu- 
pying its  former  site.  Sic  transit  gloria  mundi! 


490  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 


CHAPTER    XXIX. 

1776  et  seq. 

Muhlenberg  again  settles  with  his  family  at  Providence. — Death  of  Ziegenhagen 
and  Sigismund  Streit. — Streit's  legacy. — Muhlenberg's  decreasing  strength 
and  loss  of  hearing. — Last  attendance  at  synod. — He  is  created  doctor  of 
divinity. — End  of  his  official  relation  to  the  Philadelphia  congregation. — 
His  labors  in  behalf  of  the  proposed  hymnbook  of  the  ministerium. — The 
first  edition  of  the  Liturgy. — Muhlenberg's  conservative  principles  on  church 
services. — His  private  reading. — His  meditations  on  the  Bible. — Aversion 
to  neology  and  irreligious  tendencies. — Specimens  of  his  correspondence. — 
Letters  exchanged  with  Wrangel. — News  from  Ebenezer. — Rev.  J.  E.  Berg- 
mann. — Muhlenberg  and  the  medical  art. 

FOR  the  period  of  thirty-two  years  H.  M.  Muhlenberg  had 
done  the  work  of  a  missionary  and  of  a  pastor  in  this 
country  amid  great  hardships  and  unusual  difficulties.  For 
fifteen  years  he  had  presided  over  the  German  Lutheran 
congregation  of  St.  Michael  and  Zion  at  Philadelphia.  His 
efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Lutheran  Church  as  such  were  crowned 
with  eminent  success.  Under  his  judicious  guidance  the  Phil- 
adelphia congregation  was  raised  out  of  the  chaos  in  which  he 
found  it.  It  was  now  governed  by  a  constitution  of  his  mak- 
ing— one  which  proved  to  be  a  great  blessing — and,  as  far  as 
human  wisdom  and  energy  could  provide  for  it,  the  future  of 
that  large  body  was  secure.  We  cannot  wonder  that  Muhl- 
enberg, for  some  time  feeling  the  increasing  weakness  of  ad- 
vancing age,  desired  to  be — at  least  to  some  extent — relieved 
from  duties  becoming  more  and  more  arduous  to  him,  and  to 
retire  to  a  more  quiet  life.  We  are  safe  in  saying  that  no  one 
was  ever  more  entitled  to  rest  in  the  evening  of  his  days,  and 
no  one  could  better  enjoy  otium  cum  dignitate  than  he ;  for  he 
was  not  inclined  to  rest  on  his  laurels,  but  to  keep  them  fresh 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  49! 

to  his  last  breath.  He  did  not  wish  to  sink  into  debility  and 
dotage  in  the  presence  of  those  who  had  for  so  long  a  period 
seen  and  admired  and  loved  him  in  the  glory  of  his  vigorous 
and  energetic  manhood.  To  retire  in  proper  time  from  the 
wonted  scenes  of  our  activity  is  wisdom  the  value  of  which 
he  fully  understood.  Life  in  the  city  never  offered  him  any 
particular  attractions :  his  preference  was  decidedly  for  the 
country.  The  political  complications  of  the  times  may  also 
have  exercised  some  influence  upon  him  in  this  matter.  He 
could  willingly  bid  farewell  to  a  city  which  was  then  the  very 
focus  of  great  national  excitement  and  of  most  stirring  events 
and  transactions.  Considering  the  possibilities  of  a  bloody 
war  and  the  position  which  his  sons  subsequently  took  in  the 
great  struggle  of  the  provinces  for  independence,  Miihlenberg 
could  not  be  expected  to  expose  himself  in  that  city  to  the 
rudeness  of  the  enemy  and  to  jeopardize  life  and  personal 
freedom.  The  congregation  which  he  had  so  faithfully  served 
and  brought  into  a  flourishing  condition  was  now  under  the 
care  of  his  son-in-law,  Dr.  Kunze,  and  of  his  son  G.  H.  E. 
Miihlenberg:  both  of  them  willingly  and  conscientiously 
gave  to  it  their  talents  and  their  energy,  and  both  enjoyed 
universal  esteem  and  love.  The  father  felt  that  his  trust  was 
in  good  hands  and  that  his  personal  presence  was  now  less 
indispensable,  while  he  was  ever  ready  to  offer  his  assistance 
in  seasons  of  extraordinary  labor  or  in  any  emergency. 

Since  June,  1774,  Miihlenberg's  official  relation  to  the  con- 
gregation had  undergone  some  change.  He  retained  then  the 
title  rector,  »but,  the  Fathers  at  Halle  having  ordered  that  on 
account  of  his  long  and  faithful  service  in  the  church  he 
should  enjoy  as  a  special  benefice  the  interest  of  the  Solms- 
Roedelsheim  legacy  invested  in  Philadelphia,  it  appears  that 
he  no  longer  claimed  a  regular  salary  from  the  Philadelphia 
congregation ;  but  when  he  proposed  to  move  to  the  country 
the  vestry  settled  on  him  a  yearly  stipend  of  fifty  pounds,  and 
he  virtually  became  the  assistant  pastor.  In  a  letter  'of  Oct. 
31,  1778,  to  the  Rev.  G.  A.  Freylinghausen,  D.  D.,  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  Halle  Orphan-House,  he  speaks  of  the  Vt- 


492  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

cariats-Dienste  during  1775  ;  which  means  that  he  then  no 
longer  considered  himself  as  regular  actual  pastor.  His 
official  connection  with  the  congregation,  however,  did  not 
cease  until  1779. 

Already  during  the  year  1775  he  endeavored  to  find  a  suit- 
able place  in  the  country  to  which  he  and  his  family  might 
retire.  Very  naturally,  his  eyes  were  directed  to  Providence 
(Trappe),  where  he  had  been  settled  from  1745  to  1761,  and 
where  among  German  and  English  people  he  had  many 
friends  warmly  attached  to  him.  Here  through  so  many 
years  had  been  the  headquarters  of  his  pastoral  and  mis- 
sionary activity,  and  many  recollections  of  his  earlier  life 
in  America  made  that  locality  peculiarly  dear  to  him.  His 
former  possessions  there,  house  and  farm-land,  sold  by  him  to 
the  surgeon  Maertens,  were  now  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  George 
Diel,  a  friend  of  his  and  of  his  family.  There  were  offered 
to  him  by  another  acquaintance,  Mr.  Church,  for  three  hun- 
dred and  forty  pounds,  Pennsylvania  currency,  a  roomy  and 
comfortable  two-story  stone  building  and  seven  acres  of 
ground.  This  offer,  though  the  house  and  the  land  had 
been  much  neglected — in  addition  to  other  improvements 
Miihlenberg  was  obliged  to  put  in  thirty-six  panes  of  glass 
and  plant  two  hundred  trees — was  not  considered  unfair,  and 
Miihlenberg  accepted  it.  Of  the  Solms-Roedelsheim  legacy, 
amounting  to  eleven  hundred  and  sixty  pounds  and  invested 
in  Philadelphia,  the  vestry  transferred  two  hundred  pounds 
to  this  property  in  Providence.  One  hundred  pounds  were 
added  without  demand  of  interest  by  Mr.  Schaefer  of  Phil- 
adelphia, father-in-law  of  Fred.  Aug.  C.  Miihlenberg,  who  wish- 
ed his  family  to  have  a  place  of  refuge  in  time  of  war  or  other 
disturbances ;  one  hundred  and  sixty  pounds,  the  rest  of  Mrs. 
Miihlenberg's  paternal  inheritance,  helped  also  to  put  the 
property  in  a  comfortable  and  useful  condition.  Miihlenberg 
moved  to  his  newly-acquired  home  Mar.  1 8,  1776;  the  sale 
had  been  consummated  in  January.  For  some  days  he 
enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  Mr.  Diel,  who  also,  as  another 
proof  of  his  good-will,  brought  to  the  house  a  load  of  wood. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR   MUHLENBERG.  493 

In  July,  Muhlenberg  took  his  wife  and  the  youngest  daugh- 
ter, Mary  Salome,  to  Providence.  He  had  moved  for  the  last 
time  in  his  earthly  pilgrimage.  A  statement  made  in  one  of 
his  letters  clearly  proves  that  on  the  memorable  Fourth  of 
July,  1776,  he  was  in  Philadelphia.  The  house  in  which 
Muhlenberg  resided  at  Providence  until  his  end  is  still  stand- 
ing, about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant  from  Augustus  Church. 
To  strangers  is  pointed  out  the  window  from  which  he  could 
view  the  American  soldiery  transiently  encamped  in  the  neigh- 
hood,  and  not  in  all  respects  proving  good  neighbors.* 

During  the  year  1776,  Muhlenberg  received  the  sad  news 

*  F.  G.  Hobson,  Esq.,  of  Norristown,  Pa.,  furnishes  us  with  much  valu- 
able detail  concerning  the  state  of  affairs  in  that  locality  during  the  war,  and 
especially  during  the  time  directly  after  the  battle  of  Brandywine,  which  took 
place  Sept.  u.  1777.  Muhlenberg  states  in  his  diary  of  that  day:  "This  morn- 
ing we  heard  hard  and  long-continued  cannonading,  which  seemed  to  be  about 
thirty  miles  off,  toward  the  Brandywine  Creek."  After  that  day  Providence  expe- 
rienced much  of  the  hardships  of  war.  Sept.  1 6th,  Muhlenberg  says:  "This 
afternoon,  about  one  o'clock,  we  heard,  toward  the  south-west,  about  fourteen 
miles  from  us,  a  sharp  battle  with  field-pieces  and  small-arms  in  the  midst  of  a 
heavy  rain."  This  was  the  battle  of  Warren's  Tavern,  in  Chester  county.  The 
Americans  retreated  and  left  Philadelphia  exposed  to  the  British.  Washington 
crossed  the  Schuylkill  at  Parker's  Ford  (now  Lawrenceville)  and  marched  toward 
Providence,  coming  out  at  the  great  road  just  above  Augustus  Church.  Sept.  iQth 
the  British  camp  on  the  other  side  of  the  Schuylkill  could  be  seen  with  the  tele- 
scope. Washington  marched  with  his  troops  to  the  Perkiomen,  and  the  regi- 
ments encamped  on  both  sides  of  the  creek.  On  Sept.  22d,  with  his  whole  army 
he  encamped  on  the  hills  right  above  Trappe  (Providence),  with  different  com- 
panies scattered  around  the  village  at  various  places.  On  the  same  day  the  British 
general  Howe  crossed  the  Schuylkill,  and  a  feint  was  made  for  a  while,  as  though 
to  move  to  Trappe ;  yet  the  British  army  moved  south  along  the  Schuylkill,  and  on 
the  26th  entered  Philadelphia.  A  party  of  the  British  had  arrived  on  the  22d  at 
New  Providence  township.  The  American  army  was  then  at  New  Hanover  and 
Pottsgfove  (Pottstown).  It  moved  (Sept.  25th)  toward  Providence,  but  at  Lim- 
erick Square  turned  toward  Schwenksville.  A  part  of  it  came  to  Trappe  and 
made  its  headquarters  in  the  Lutheran  church  and  the  school-house,  both  of 
which  were  on  that  occasion  shamefully  desecrated.  The  soldiers  of  the  militia 
behaved  very  rudely  and  predatorily,  and  Father  Muhlenberg  had  his  chickens 
stolen  and  horses  driven  into  his  buckwheat-field.  In  consequence  of  the 
battle  of  Germantown  (Oct.  4,  1777),  Washington,  with  the  main  body  of  his 
army,  returned  to  his  former  quarters  at  Schwenksville,  and  the  militia  to  their 
camp  at  Trappe.  Dec.  1 2th,  Washington,  with  his  whole  army,  went  into  winter- 
quarters  at*  Valley  Forge,  where  he  remained  until  June  18,  1778. 


494  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

of  the  death  of  the  venerable,  beloved  Dr.  Ziegenhagen  at  Lon- 
don, and  of  another  man  whose  name  also  deserves  to  be  kept 
in  grateful  remembrance  in  the  Lutheran  Church — in  America 
no  less  than  in  Germany.  This  was  Sigismund  Streit  (born  at 
Berlin  Apr.  13,  1687),  who  as  a  young  man  without  any 
means,  but  of  good  Christian  principles,  had  gone  to  Venice, 
found  a  situation  in  a  mercantile  house,  established  in  1715  a 
business  of  his  own,  acquired,  under  the  blessing  of  Prov- 
dence,  considerable  wealth,  never  married,  died  Dec.  20,  1775, 
at  Padua,  where  for  some  years  he  had  resided,  and  was  buried 
Dec.  22d  in  the  Protestant  cemetery  at  Venice.  He  frequent- 
ly corresponded  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  G.  A.  Francke  at  Halle  and 
other  men  of  Christian  character  and  responsible  positions, 
and  was  moved  not  only  to  transfer  to  the  classical  high 
school  (gymnasium)  at  Berlin  the  sum  of  sixty-three  thou- 
sand thalers,  but  in  1753  to  deliver  fifteen  thousand  florins 
to  the  directors  of  the  Halle  Orphan-House,  to  be  admin- 
istered by  them.  An  equal  sum  he  gave  to  them  in  the 
following  year,  and  again  seventeen  hundred  florins  in  1756. 
The  interest  of  these  sums  he  retained  for  himself  dur- 
ing his  lifetime ;  after  his  death  the  half  of  the  interest  of 
the  sum-total  was  to  be  used  for  the  benefit  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  America,  the  other  half  for  the  Lutheran  missions 
in  East  India.  In  accordance  with  the  will  of  the  founder, 
these  provisions  are  still  carried  out.  In  America  the  benefit 
is  shared  in  equitable  proportions  by  the  Evangelical  Luther- 
an Ministerium  of  Pennsylvania  and  adjacent  States,  the  Syn- 
od of  West  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Ministerium  of  New  York. 
The  principal  is  invested  in  Prussia  under  the  control  of  the 
authorities  of  the  Halle  Orphan-House,  who  are  responsible 
to  the  royal  government. 

One  of  the  special  reasons  why  Miihlenberg  retired  from 
regular  pastoral  activity  was  the  loss  of  hearing  in  connection 
with  general  debility.  At  a  military  funeral  the  misfortune 
was  greatly  aggravated  by  the  discharge  of  guns  in  his  prox- 
imity. In  a  letter  to  Rev.  Dr.  Freylinghausen  dated  Oct.  31, 
1778,  he  says :  "  Concerning  myself,  the  supernumerary,  or  'the 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  495 

fifth  wheel  of  the  wagon,'  it  may  be  said  I  daily  and  hourly 
expect  the  call  to  eternity.  Last  winter  I  was  obliged  to  stay 
up  many  a  night,  and,  in  consequence  of  having  taken  cold, 
was  troubled  with  neuralgia  in  the  head ;  the  military  salutes 
at  a  funeral  in  Philadelphia,  July  28,  A.  c.,  nearly  destroyed  the 
rest  of  my  hearing,  so  that  since  that  time  I  have  suffered  con- 
tinually with  giddiness  and  ringing  in  the  ears,  as  if  I  were  in 
a  mill  or  alongside  of  a  cataract.  I  can  occasionally  preach, 
but  am  unable  to  hold  public  catechization  because  of  the  loss 
of  my  hearing."  For  a  time  he  had  charge  of  the  New  Han- 
over congregation ;  and  whenever  he  was  called  upon,  and  he 
felt  strong  enough,  he  preached  not  only  at  Providence — taking 
care  of  this  his  wonted  field  of  labor  in  connection  with  Rev. 
Voigt,  who  after  resigning  the  Hanover  charge  (1776)  settled 
at  Pikestown,  west  of  the  Schuylkill — but  also  in  neighboring 
churches,  and  at  first  occasionally,  in  later  years  very  rarely, 
in  Philadelphia.  At  Providence,  when  Voigt  held  services,  he 
sometimes  played  the  organ.  During  the  spring  of  1781, 
notwithstanding  his  infirmity,  he  instructed  forty-four  young 
catechumens  in  New  Hanover,  five  others  at  Providence.  Oct. 
31,  1778,  after  the  departure  of  the  English  from  Philadelphia, 
he  preached  in  Zion  Church,  which  during  their  temporary 
possession  of  the  city  (Nov.  22,  1777)  had  been  transformed 
into  a  military  hospital.  The  furnishing  of  the  large  building 
with  galleries  and  pews  had  been  done  in  cheap  times  before 
the  war  with  an  outlay  of  about  two  thousand  three  hundred 
pounds  ;  now  all  this  had  been  destroyed,  and  it  was  not  until 
1782  that  the  church  was  again  properly  restored.  Whoever 
wished  to  sit  during  services  was  obliged  to  bring  his  own 
chair.  During  the  war  many  members  of  the  congregation 
had  moved  to  the  country.  Miihlenberg's  own  son  Henry 
had  found  a  refuge  in  his  father's  house  at  Providence,  but 
even  his  father  was  in  danger  of  being  made  a  prisoner  by  the 
English,  and  Kunze  had  sole  charge  of  the  Philadelphia  con- 
gregation during  their  presence.  Father  Muhlenberg  spent 
some  time  at  Philadelphia  during  the  spring  of  1779,  but  was 
at  that  period  already  troubled  with  swelling  of  the  feet. 


496  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

When,  in  1781  (June  10),  synod  assembled  in  Philadelphia 
he  was  present.  The  meeting  of  synod  in  the  following  year 
at  Lancaster  he  could  not  attend,  neither  any  of  the  subse- 
quent meetings.  A  copy  of  the  minutes  was  sent  to  him  by 
synod.  By  special  invitation  he  preached  in  Zion  (Sept.  22, 
1782)  at  the  rededication  of  the  building.  For  some  time 
many  voices  greatly  desiring  his  return  to  the  city  were  heard 
in  the  Philadelphia  congregation ;  his  increasing  feebleness 
prevented  such  a  change.  Already  during  the  winter  of 
1784-85  he  complained  that  without  assistance  he  could  no 
longer  dress  himself  or  ascend  the  steps  leading  to  the  pulpit. 
On  June  9,  1787,  he  paid  the  last  visit  to  his  daughter  Mary 
Catharine,  married  to  Major  Francis  Swain,  sheriff  of  Mont- 
gomery county,  Pennsylvania.  His  youngest  daughter,  Mary 
Salome,  in  1782  married  Mr.  Matthias  Richards,  the  ancestor 
of  several  highly-respected  theologians  in  the  Lutheran  Church. 
The  last  pastoral  act  performed  by  H.  M.  Miihlenberg,  a  few 
days  before  entering  into  eternal  rest,  was  baptizing,  on  Sept. 
29,  1787,  a  child  of  John  Frey  of  Providence. 

When,  in  1784,  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  made  H.  M. 
Miihlenberg  a  doctor  of  divinity — an  act  which  might  have 
been  performed  at  a  much  earlier  date  without  in  any  way 
infringing  upon  the  dignity  of  the  institution — Kunze  for- 
warded the  news  to  his  venerated  father-in-law  in  a  letter  of 
June  1 2th.  Miihlenberg  says  in  his  diary  that  the  D.  D.  on 
the  outside  of  the  letter  at  first  startled  him,  since  he  had  no 
inkling  of  the  intention  to  honor  him  in  this  way ;  he  next 
thought  it  an  error  of  Kunze :  when  he  read  of  his  new  dig- 
nity, he  remembered  that  very  ignorant  people  in  Upper 
Lusatia  at  Grosshennersdorf  had  called  him  magister,  and  his 
companions  on  board  the  brigantine  in  which  he  crossed  the 
Atlantic  had  dubbed  him  doctor,  since  he  wore  a  cockade  in 
the  form  of  a  rose  on  his  hat  and  sometimes  administered 
Halle  medicines  to  the  sick.  In  his  answer  he  requested 
Kunze  and  all  his  friends  to  ignore  his  new  title  in  their  in- 
tercourse with  him. 

When,  in  1776,  Miihlenberg  moved  to  Providence,  his  offi- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  497 

cial  connection  with  the  Philadelphia  congregation  was  thereby 
not  dissolved :  he  still  was  pastor,  had  the  title  "  rector,"  and 
retained  his  seat  and  his  vote  in  the  vestry.  March  24,  1779, 
the  vestry  passed  a  resolution  that  since  H.  M.  Miihlenberg, 
Sr.,  had  moved  to  the  country,  the  congregation  yearly  pay 
him  fifty  pounds,  that  the  rectorship  be  declared  vacant,  and 
that  a  rector  be  elected ;  thereupon  Dr.  Kunze  was  unani- 
mously elected  rector.  It  appears  that  a  certain  expression 
used  by  Miihlenberg  in  a  letter  sent  some  time  before  to  Phil- 
adelphia had  been  misunderstood  by  Kunze,  and  interpreted 
as  a  desire  to  be  released  from  his  office  as  rector  and  from 
all  further  responsibility.  When  the  resolution  was  passed 
the  president  of  the  vestry  remonstrated  against  it ;  Kunze, 
who  acted  as  secretary,  remained  passive.  His  colaborer, 
Henry  E.  Miihlenberg,  was,  as  it  seems,  not  present  at  the 
meeting,  but  heard  of  it  soon  afterward — was  greatly  offended 
at  Kunze  and  the  vestry,  and  sympathized  with  the  large 
number  of  the  membership  who  considered  the  action  of  the 
vestry  very  objectionable.  Those  who  had  voted  for  the 
resolution  maintained  that  Father  Miihlenberg's  removal 
from  the  city  was  equal  to  a  formal  resignation ;  but  he  had 
left  the  city  with  the  permission  and  the  knowledge  of  the 
vestry,  and  with  the  understanding  that  he  was  still  rector. 
On  the  whole  subject  there  was  considerable  agitation  through- 
out the  congregation.  In  a  congregational  meeting  G.  H.  E. 
Miihlenberg,  with  whom  his  brothers  were  in  full  sympathy, 
expressed  his  disapprobation  in  very  strong  terms,  resigned 
Apr.  5th,  and  afterward  moved  to  New  Hanover.  April  26th 
a  number  of  members  violently  interrupted  the  meeting  of 
the  vestry.  Kunze  was  in  great  distress.  He  wrote  letters  of 
apology  to  Father  Miihlenberg,  who,  of  all  those  interested 
in  this  unfortunate  affair,  was  the  most  calm,  and  never  for  a 
moment  lost  his  mental  equilibrium,  though  it  appeared  prob- 
able to  him  that  he  would  be  obliged  to  end  his  labors  at 
Philadelphia  amid  congregational  strife,  as  he  had  begun 
them  in  1761.  On  Friday,  Apr.  9th,  he  received  from  the 
Philadelphia  vestry  a  letter  signed  by  its  presiding  officer, 

'62 


498  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

Mr.  Schaefer,  wherein  the  assurance  is  given  that  there  had 
been  no  intention  to  offend  a  father  whose  spiritual  children 
they  had  for  so  many  years  been,  that  they  had  acted  think- 
ing that  the  charter  of  the  congregation  demanded  such  ac- 
tion, and  that  now  they  invited  him  to  come  and  preach  on 
the  following  Sunday.  And  Miihlenberg  came,  and  preached 
Apr.  nth,  the  first  Sunday  after  Easter,  in  Zion,  on  John  xx. 
19  sqq.,  not  at  all  alluding  to  the  existing  dissensions,  but 
laying  stress  upon  the  words  of  Jesus,  "  Peace  be  unto  you  !" 
On  the  two  following  days  he  visited  a  number  of  friends,  and 
everywhere  impressed  it  on  all  whom  he  met  that  it  was  self- 
evident  that  in  his  great  debility  he  could  no  longer  bear  the 
responsibility  of  an  office.  On  Wednesday,  Apr.  I4th,  Miihl- 
enberg appeared  in  the  meeting  of  the  vestry  and  requested 
that,  as  he  was  there  in  the  capacity  of  both  plaintiff  and  de- 
fendant and  could  not  preside,  they  would  elect  a  chairman. 
Mr.  Dav.  Schaefer  was  elected.  Then,  presenting  his  case, 
Miihlenberg  said  that,  contrary  to  the  charter  and  the  con- 
stitution of  the  congregation,  ten  members  had  deposed  him 
from  his  office  and  elected  another  rector.  His  name,  he  said, 
was  well  known  in  Europe  and  in  America,  and  such  an  act 
would  greatly  injure  his  public  reputation.  He  could  not 
pass  over  it  in  silence :  he  would  be  obliged  to  lay  the  case 
before  the  congregation,  and,  if  this  brought  no  relief,  before 
the  courts  of  law ;  but,  as  a  lover  of  congregational  peace,  he 
would  propose  that  they  should  at  once  rescind  the  resolution 
of  his  discharge  and  allow  him  afterward  to  hand  in  his  resig- 
nation. There  was  no  difficulty  on  this  point.  Resolutions 
were  passed  stating  that  there  had  been  no  intention  to  offend 
the  venerable  pastor  of  the  congregation,  that  they  gladly  em- 
braced this  opportunity  to  express  their  never-ending  and 
exalted  esteem  for  him,  and  accepted  his  suggestion  that  his 
removal  from  the  city  did  not  sever  his  official  connection 
with  the  congregation  ;  consequently,  the  resolution  of  March 
24th  lost  its  efficacy.  Miihlenberg  now  formally  handed  in 
his  resignation ;  upon  its  acceptance  a  resolution  was  passed 
granting  him  a  yearly  pension  of  one  hundred  pounds.  And 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  499 

now  Kunze  was  regularly  elected  rector;  which  title  was,  how- 
ever, shortly  afterward  (1781)  abolished.  In  this  way  further 
strife  was  prevented,  and  Muhlenberg  closed  his  official  career 
with  a  peaceful  triumph  of  dignified  firmness,  wisdom,  and 
good-will.  The  relation  between  Kunze  and  his  brothers-in- 
law  was  not  so  soon  amicably  restored,  and  a  few  years  later 
he  was  even  impelled  to  bring  charges  against  one  of  them 
before  the  praeses  of  synod  for  the  use  of  abusive  language. 

After  preaching  in  Zion,  April  i8th,  Muhlenberg  gave  to  the 
congregation  the  necessary  information  concerning  the  action 
of  the  vestry.  That  he  performed  this  duty  in  the  spirit  of  peace 
and  charity, — of  this  we  need  not  inform  our  readers.  He  added 
that  he  had  been  invested  with  the  right  to  appear  from  time 
to  time  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation  and  to  preach  to 
them.  We  know  already  that  this  was  done  as  his.  health 
and  other  circumstances  permitted.  Apr.  25th  his  son  Henry 
preached  in  Zion  his  farewell  sermon  before  removing  to  the 
country,  where  he  took  charge  of  the  New  Hanover  congre- 
gation until  he  was  called  to  Lancaster.  The  address  con- 
cerning his  resignation  delivered  by  him  at  the  conclusion  of 
his  farewell  sermon  in  Philadelphia  was  not  calculated  to  pour 
oil  upon  the  troubled  waters,  though  it  did  honor  to  the  heart 
of  the  son  of  the  aged  pastor. 

Being  released  from  the  performance  of  heavy  pastoral 
duties  and  responsibilities,  Muhlenberg,  though  for  a  time 
serving  at  New  Hanover  and  assisting  Voigt  in  the  service 
at  Providence,  could  devote  more  time  to  labors  which  could 
be  performed  as  well  in  the  quiet  of  the  study  in  behalf  of  the 
ministerium  and  of  the  Church  at  large.  When,  in  1782,  it 
was  resolved  that  synod  should  publish  a  hymnbook  for  the 
use  of  the  united  congregations,  he  was  requested  to  collect 
hymns  for  the  book  and  to  write  the  preface.  He  went  to 
work  conscientiously,  and  his  selection  proves  his  fine  recog- 
nition of  the  necessities  of  the  Lutheran  Church  and  his  dis- 
taste for  neological  conceptions  and  phraseology.  From  the 
treasures  of  German  Lutheran  hymnology  he  offered  to  the 
congregation  a  collection  showing  his  preference  for  the  older 


500  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

hymns  of  the  Church,  without  neglecting  those  of  a  later  pe- 
riod. We  cannot  wonder  that  the  hymns  of  the  earlier  period 
of  Pietism  also  found  favor  with  him.  But  the  sympathy  with 
the  song  of  the  preceding  period  had  not  outlived  itself,  and 
never  will  outlive  itself  as  long  as  there  shall  be  a  German 
Lutheran  Church.  Miihlenberg  was  too  conservative  a  Church- 
man to  deprive  Lutherans  of  hymns  to  which  tradition  and 
habit  had  attached  them,  and  which  strenuously  echoed  the 
Lutheran  faith.  In  this  respect  this  hymnbook,  the  largest 
part  of  which  Miihlenberg  compiled,  and  which  was  published 
by  synod  in  1786,  is  much  superior  to  the  one  edited  under 
synodical  authority  in  1849,  but  does  not  attain  to  the  mer- 
its of  the  Kirclienbiicli  edited  by  the  General  Council  of  the 
Lutheran  Church  in  America  and  representing  the  highest 
standard  of  liturgical  and  hymnological  theory.  There  are 
elements  in  the  book  of  1786  for  which  we  would  not  like  to 
make  Miihlenberg  responsible.  What  he  says  in  his  preface 
on  the  principles  which  ought  ever  to  guide  those  who  are 
entrusted  with  collecting  hymns  for  the  use  of  congregations, 
and  those  who  furnish  the  music  corresponding  to  the  sacred 
character  of  divine  worship,  has  not  lost  its  value  at  the  pres- 
ent time. 

The  Liturgy  published  also  in  1786  by  synod  essentially 
harmonizes  with  the  hymnbook  of  that  year.  It  even  more 
purely  expresses  the  creed  of  genuine  Lutheranism  :  in  it  we 
have,  though  wifh  some  change,  those  liturgical  forms  which 
since  the  formation  of  synod  in  1748  were  used  by  mutual 
understanding  by  the  pastors  of  the  united  congregations. 
Miihlenberg  entertained  very  conservative  ideas  concerning 
the  forms  and  the  instrumentalities  of  public  worship  through- 
out the  Lutheran  Church.  In  giving,  as  praeses  of  synod,  cat- 
echists  permission  to  serve  in  their  respective  fields  of  labor,  he 
laid  great  stress  on  this — that  they  should  solemnly  promise 
not  to  deviate  in  any  way  from  the  order  of  service  prescribed 
by  synod,  and  not  introduce  new  forms  of  their  own  taste  or 
invention.  In  a  letter  of  Nov.  5,  1783,  addressed  to  Dr.  Godfr. 
Enox  of  Loonenburg  on  the  Hudson,  he  says  :  "  It  would  be 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  50 1 

a  most  desirable  and  advantageous  thing  if  all  the  Evangel- 
ical Lutheran  congregations  in  the  North  American  States 
were  united  with  one  another,  if  they  all  used  the  same  order  of 
service,  the  same  hymnbook,  and  in  good  and  evil  days  would 
show  an  active  sympathy  and  fraternally  correspond  with  one 
another."  In  speaking  of  his  labor  in  collecting  hymns  he 
says  in  his  diary  of  Jan.  21,  1783,  that  synod  had  resolved 
the  book  should  contain  seven  hundred  and  fifty  hymns ; 
that,  following  the  "  Halle  epitome  in  heavy  type,"  he  had 
selected  five  hundred  and  thirty-four;  that  from  a  number 
of  hymnbooks  containing  excellent  material  he  could  make 
no  selection,  since  they  were  not  furnished  him.  He  says : 
"  Hymns  on  the  last  judgment,  intimating  its  speedy  advent 
and  introducing  unsuitable  signs  of  its  approach,  I  omitted; 
also  those  which,  following  the  language  of  Solomon's  Song, 
use  terms  having  a  taint  of  the  sensual ;  also  those  which 
speak  of  Jesus  in  a  playful  manner,  etc.  in  diminutive  terms, 
because  such  language,  though  intended  as  child-like  and 
familiar,  appears  to  me  childish  and  not  according  to  Scrip- 
ture language.  Hymns,  however,  of  the  oldest  and  of  sub- 
sequent times  which  are  known  to  all  Lutherans  from  child- 
hood are  not  omitted,  though,  while  they  are  orthodox,  their 
style  and  rhythm  may  appear  somewhat  harsh."  Certain 
errors  of  Moravian  hymnology  may  in  this  matter  have  exer- 
cised an  influence  upon  Miihlenberg. 

We  know  that  in  his  liberality  Miihlenberg  went  so  far  as 
to  invite  Whitefield  to  be  present  at  a  public  school-exami- 
nation in  St.  Michael's  and  to  preach  once  in  Zion  at  Phila- 
delphia; but  he  was  not  inclined  indiscriminately  to  open 
Lutheran  churches  to  other  denominations.  March  23,  1/83, 
Rev.  Voigt  informed  him  that  an  English  Methodist  was  cre- 
ating disturbance  in  his  congregations  west  of  the  Schuylkill, 
and  that  some  of  his  adherents  intended  to  open  the  Lutheran 
churches  to  him.  In  a  letter  addressed  to  the  officers  and 
membership  of  those  congregations  Miihlenberg  gave  de- 
cisive advice  not  to  allow  that  person  to  preach  in  Lutheran 
pulpits,  because  those  who  gave  such  a  permission  "  take 


502  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

upon  themselves  a  very  heavy  responsibility  before  God  and 
all  the  united  Lutheran  congregations." 

When  Muhlenberg  retired  from  regular  pastoral  work 
he  found  leisure — and  made  good  use  of  it — for  medita- 
tion, reading,  the  continuation  of  his  diaries,  and  correspond- 
ence. The  study  of  the  Scriptures  had  at  all  times  engaged 
his  mind.  In  his  later  years  he  paid  special  attention  to  the 
prophetic  voices  of  the  Bible.  All  publications  referring  to 
the  word  of  God  engaged  his  peculiar  interest.  This  is 
clearly  evidenced  by  his  careful  manner  of  preparing  his  ser- 
mons, of  which  not  one  has  come  down  to  us  in  complete 
form,  while  in  his  private  papers  are  found  sketches  prepared 
by  him  with  the  greatest  care  and  elaboration  in  every  partic- 
ular. We  plainly  see  that  it  was  not  his  habit  to  be  satisfied 
with  a  few  leading  propositions,  and  to  trust  that  in  the  pul- 
pit the  flesh  would  attach  itself  in  beautiful  proportions  and 
muscular  strength  to  the  few  bare  bones— a  method  which 
often  ruins  a  talented  preacher  and  keeps  barren  one  without 
talents. 

Of  his  meditations  on  the  Bible  Muhlenberg  left  many 
traces  in  his  diaries,  and  an  interesting  anthology  of  them 
might  easily  be  compiled.  His  annotations  frequently  are  sug- 
gestive and  very  practical,  indicative  of  independent  thought, 
with  a  firm  conviction  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  and 
their  authoritative  character.  As  a  sample  of  his  way  of  treat- 
ing Bible  questions  we  here  introduce  his  remarks  on  the 
admission  of  Judas  Iscariot  into  the  discipleship  of  Jesus. 
He  says  :  "  When  reading  the  history  of  Judas  we  can  hardly 
escape  the  question,  Why  did  Christ  call  this  man  and  permit 
him  to  be  among  his  most  intimate  disciples  and  friends,  while 
through  his  divine  omniscience  he  had  the  foreknowledge  of 
the  condition  of  his  heart  and  the  issue  of  his  career  ?  I  an- 
swer in  the  language  of  our  Lord  :  '  That  the  Scriptures  may 
be  fulfilled  :  He  that  eateth  my  bread  with  me,  has  lifted  up  his 
heel  against  me'  (Ps.  xli.  10;  John  xiii.  18).  Here  simple- 
minded  people  will  say,  '  If  this  be  thus,  Judas  could  not  act 
differently;  otherwise,  the  Scriptures  would  not  have  been 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  503 

fulfilled.'  It  will  be  almost  impossible  to  make  people  not 
used  to  more  acute  thinking  understand  the  meaning  of  the 
terms  '  spontaneity  of  the  human  mind '  or  '  freedom  of  will/ 
since  they  do  not  delight  in  the  abstract,  but  the  concrete. 
The  divine  purpose  in  admitting  a  hypocrite  and  dissimulat- 
ing arch-enemy  among  the  select  twelve  disciples  and  most 
intimate  friends  of  our  Saviour  during  his  state  of  humilia- 
tion and  the  last  few  years  of  his  earthly  pilgrimage,  and 
permitting  him  by  day  and  by  night  to  be  about  the  Re- 
deemer and  to  observe  closely  all  his  words,  deeds,  and  even 
secret  actions,  was  to  associate  with  our  Lord  a  spy  who  after- 
ward, when  his  conscience  was  awakened,  himself  testified  to 
the  Saviour's  innocence  when  he  said  before  the  Pharisees, 
'  I  have  sinned  in  that  I  have  betrayed  the  innocent  blood,' 
If  Judas,  during  his  most  intimate  intercourse  with  Jesus, 
had  observed  or  discovered  the  least  error  in  his  teachings  or 
the  least  wrong  in  his  conduct  and  works,  he  would  have  made 
use  of  it  in  self-defence,  and  said,  '  I  was  right  in  betraying 
him,  he  is  only  receiving  his  deserts/  etc." 

Muhlenberg  at  times  expresses  his  grief  when  he  sees  that 
in  Germany  Neology  and  Rationalism  were  in  his  day  begin- 
ning to  make  inroads  into  theology,  and  especially  into  the 
whole  treatment  and  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures.  During 
the  last  years  of  his  life  he  took  much  interest  in  reading  J.  L. 
Semler's  autobiography  (published  1781—82),  though  he  knew 
that  Semler,  while  never  ceasing  to  discharge  the  duties  of 
personal  piety  in  his  home  circle,  by  his  very  free  treatment 
of  the  Bible-text  had  opened  the  gates  in  Germany  for  the 
rationalistic  treatment  of  the  Bible  narratives.  He  found 
profitable  reading  in  J.  Jac.  Hess's  Last  Three  Years  of  the 
Life  of  Jesus  (published  and  edited  at  Leipsic,  1768,  in^two 
volumes) — a  book  published  since  that  time  under  a  changed 
title  in  various  editions,  and  not  without  value  even  for  our 
generation.  He  also  took  interest  in  Crusius's  Morals; 
Goecking's  History  of  the  Salzburg  Emigration;  Mosheim's 
Church  History;  Magn.  Fr.  Roos's  Christian  Confession  of 
Faith  and  Convincing  Proof  of  the  Divine  Origin  of  the  Bible 


504  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

against  Objections  most  recently  raised;  J.  Jac.  Moser's  Monthly 
Contributions  to  the  Advancement  of  True  Christianity ;  the  writ- 
ings of  Gellert,  Michaelis,  J.  A.  Bengel,  the  Missionary  Reports 
of  East  India,  and  in  a  number  of  other  publications  of  sim- 
ilar character.  In  a  letter  to  Dr.  Kunze,  speaking  of  Deism 
and  Naturalism  in  his  times,  he  expresses  the  hope  that  Ger- 
many will  produce  men  capable  of  demonstrating  .the  shallow- 
ness  of  such  views  and  counteracting  their  evil  influences.  He 
was  much  grieved  to  learn  that  some  men  intended  to  repub- 
lish  Voltaire's  Works  in  America.  When,  Oct.  8,  1778,  an 
offensive  article  setting  forth  that  "Adam  was  indicted  for 
eating  the  fruit,  etc.,  he  pleaded  guilty,  and  on  trial  the  jury 
found  him  guilty,  etc.,"  had  appeared  in  Dunlap's  Pennsylvania 
Packet,  Miihlenberg's  indignation  being  roused,  he  prepared 
to  that  scoffing  piece  an  answer  beginning,  "  Whatsoever  in- 
tention, aim,  or  purpose  the  anonymous  writer  might  have 
in  view,  I  am  sorry  he  did  choose  the  wrong  object  for  sport, 
ridicule,  and  mockery.  The  sacred  Scriptures,  delivered  unto 
Christian  nations  in  the  original  languages  and  careful  trans- 
lations, contain  the  foundation  upon  which  the  Christian  re- 
ligion is  built,  and  remain  an  inestimable  treasure,  light,  and 
comfort  for  millions  of  mortals  endued  with  common  sense 
and  in  earnest  to  promote  their  temporal  and  eternal  peace 
and  happiness,  and  therefore  should  not  be  abused  and  pro- 
faned. The  present  remarkable  Revolution  in  North  America 
calls  all  civilized  nations  to  attention  and  causes  the  news- 
papers to  be  transported,  translated,  and  read  in  all  the  inhab- 
ited parts  of  the  world.  What  ideas  must  civil  and  religious 
people  form  of  the  North  American  inhabitants  when  they  see 
such  base  and  scurrilous  pieces  published,  which  tend  to  ridi- 
cule and  profane  the  sacred  Scriptures  and  Christian  religion  ? 
And  what  security,  peace,  and  prosperity  can  the  wisest  and 
best  government  of  States  expect  from  oaths,  attests  for  alle- 
giance, if  they  tamely  suffer  the  principles  and  foundations  of 
religion  thus  publicly  to  be  buffooned,  vilified,  and  the  liberty 
so  dearly  defended  and  bought  by  many  precious  lives  and 
anxious  struggles  to  be  turned  into  licentiousness,  and  thou- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  505 

sands  of  sober,  religious,  and  useful  members  of  the  common- 
wealth to  be  affronted  and  grieved  ?  History  affords  dreadful 
instances  of  empires,  kingdoms,  and  states,  how  they  ended 
in  ruin  by  licentiousness  and  overwhelming  national  vices. 
And,  concerning  the  anonymous  writer  in  particular,  we  wish 
he  may  be  admitted  into  a  charity  school,  there  to  learn  that 
the  almighty  and  omniscient  God,  Creator  and  Preserver  of 
the  universe,  had  no  need  to  call  a  jury  inquiring  into  the 
transgression  of  Adam,  and  that  he  does  not  want  any  harle- 
quin or  fool  to  inquire,  What  kind  of  wood  ?  What  part  of 
the  garden  ?  What  kind  of  fruit  ?  etc.  etc."  Certainly,  the  in- 
dignation which  finds  vent  in  these  words  does  honor  to  the 
author's  heart  and  head.  It  also  cannot  escape  our  observa- 
tion that  Muhlenberg  here  in  1778  speaks  of  the  States  and 
the  liberty  gained  in  the  struggle  as  something  about  which 
there  is  no  longer  any  doubt  in  his  mind. 

The  correspondence  with  Europe  suffered  much  interruption 
during  the  war.  In  December,  1783,  Muhlenberg  complains 
that  since  February,  1779,  he  had  received  no  letters  from 
Halle.  The  war  ,had  inaugurated  the  period  in  which  the  Lu- 
theran Church  in  America  peacefully  entered  upon  her  inde- 
pendence from  the  f<  Fathers  "  in  Europe.  The  correspond- 
ence between  those  men  who,  like  Kunze  and  Helmuth,  were 
sent  from  Halle  and  the  Halle  directors  did  not  cease  during 
their  lifetime,  but  it  was  not  of  the  character  of  former  years ; 
and  after  the  publication  of  the  Halle  Reports  from  1745-85 
in  collective  form  in  1787,  no  such  Reports  from  the  united 
Lutheran  congregations  in  North  America  were  given  to  the 
public.  The  United  States  began  the  peaceful  evolution  of 
their  political  and  social  life ;  Europe  was  startled  by  the  ter- 
rors of  the  French  Revolution,  overwhelmed  by  bloody  wars, 
and  finally  reconstructed. 

In  his  correspondence  not  only  with  the  members  of  his 
family,  but  with  the  brethren  in  the  ministerial  office  and  with 
others,  Muhlenberg  faithfully  continued  until  the  end  of  his 
days.  Thereby  he  exercised  an  exceedingly  beneficial  influ- 
ence. In  his  letters  he  was  no  less  outspoken  than  in  his 


506  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

personal  intercourse.  He  was  a  friend  who  would  sacrifice 
much  for  the  sake  of  friendship,  but  never  the  truth.  He 
knew  the  weakness  of  human  nature,  but,  while  fully  sympa- 
thizing with  the  ills  to  which  it  is  exposed,  he  never  was  will- 
ing to  give  way  to  its  whims.  Having  at  all  times  made  heavy 
claims  upon  himself,  he  tried  to  arouse  the  latent  energies  in 
others  and  to  direct  them  to  practical  views  of  life  and  the 
plain  path  of  duty. 

Of  this  we  can  offer  to  our  readers  very  striking  examples. 
Returning  from  Charleston,  S.  C.,  the  Rev.  Christian  Streit 
was  for  a  time  pastor  of  the  New  Hanover  charge.  He  suf- 
fered the  loss  of  an  only  child,  and  the  physician — Dr.  Rush 
of  Philadelphia — whom  he  had  consulted  about  the  sickly 
condition  of  his  wife  plainly  told  him  that  he  should  prepare 
himself  for  his  separation  from  her,  since  no  cure  was  to  be 
expected.  It  seems  that  this  announcement  put  Streit  into  a 
state  of  deep  melancholy.  When  visiting  Miihlenberg  in  July, 
1782,  he  was  very  despondent,  spoke  of  being  unable  to  preach, 
and  was  altogether  downcast.  Miihlenberg,  who  entertained 
very  friendly  feelings  toward  him,  was  grieved  to  see  him  in 
this  condition,  but  saw  in  it  a  moral  and  spiritual  weakness 
which  should  be  counteracted.  To  him  he  addressed  a  letter 
in  which,  after  alluding  to  the  information  received  from  Dr. 
Rush  and  to  Streit's  melancholy,  he  says,  "  Does  what  the 
doctor  said  appear  to  you  so  strange  ?  We  all  have  to  die. 
Death  is  the  reward  of  sin,  and  our  dear  Lord  died  for  all  the 
children  of  Adam,  that  in  and  through  him  we  may  have  eter- 
nal life ;  and  those  who  through  the  Holy  Ghost  believe  in 
him  and  live  for  him  shall  even  '  not  taste  death,'  but  at  once 
enter  into  rest  and  the  glorious  life  to  come.  My  dear  brother, 
you  are  a  magister,  a  master  of  science  and  the  liberal  arts ; 
you  have  studied  theology;  you  are  ordained  and  called  upon 
to  preach  to  others  the  whole  story  of  salvation,  and  by  teach- 
ing and  by  your  walk  and  conversation  to  convince  them  of 
the  truth  of  revelation.  The  universal  order  of  things  encom- 
passes every  part  of  the  whole.  Since  we  all  have  to  die,  the 
partner  of  your  life  makes  no  exception.  How  is  it  possible 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  507 

that  a  truth  so  well  known  and  experienced  from  day  to  day 
could  depress  your  mind  to  such  an  extent  and  make  you 
melancholy  ?  Your  beloved  grandparents,  whom  I  person- 
ally knew,  your  much-beloved  mother,  who  was  a  lover  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  and  of  his  gospel,  have  gone  to  their  rest; 
even  your  own  dear  child  died ;  I  and  you  have  to  die :  how 
can  it  appear  to  you  strange  that  the  physician  says  that  your 
beloved  wife  will  have  to  die?  Knowing  that  through  the 
blood  of  Christ  she  is  in  true  faith  purified  from  all  sin  and  that 
her  soul  is  clothed  with  his  righteousness,  you  might  rather 
wish  and  in  your  chamber  pray  God,  who  owns  her,  that 
according  to  his  fatherly  goodness  and  mercy  he  may  soon 
release  her  from  the  sufferings  of  painful  sickness  and  take 
her  into  his  care  and  kingdom.  We  desire  those  whom  we 
love  to  enjoy  not  only  what  is  good,  but  what  is  better  and 
the  very  best.  You  have  not  created,  not  ransomed,  not 
adopted  her  in  holy  baptism,  not  crowned  her  with  glory ; 
she  belongs  to  God :  he  alone  has  the  right  to  give  and  to 
take  as  it  may  please  him.  Remember,  'Well  done  is  all  that 
God  may  do.'  There  is  a  cordial  in  this.  You,  my  dear 
brother,  have  much  more  cause  to  adore  God  in  truth  and  to 
offer  thanks  to  him  in  humility  than  to  give  way  to  depress- 
ing and  melancholy  thoughts.  God's  kind  providence  re- 
leased you  from  your  tribulations  in  Carolina  and  brought 
you  to  Philadelphia.  Deprived  of  all  external  means  and 
without  money,  you  could  not  have  remained  there  in  the 
present  time  while  high  prices  rule.  I  consider  it  providen- 
tial that  you  came  to  New  Hanover.  Even  here  no  place 
would  have  been  found  for  sick  Mrs.  Streit  unless  you  had 
been  acquainted  with  Mr.  Swaine  and  my  daughter,  who 
could  offer  you  a  room ;  for  in  the  country  a  spare  chamber 
and  opportunity  for  boarding  are  rarely  found.  To  occupy  a 
house  of  your  own  with  a  sick  person  you  had  neither  furni- 
ture nor  servants.  Consequently,  you  will  have  to  learn  to 
adapt  yourself  to  the  ways  of  Providence,  to  exercise  mutual 
forbearance,  and  mutually  to  relieve  the  burdens  until  God 
will  bring  about  a  change  and  ease  the  circumstances.  As  to 


508  LIFE  AND.   TIMES   OF 

the  rest,  I  pray  God  that  he  may  mercifully  guard  you  against 
obnoxious  melancholy  and  sceptical  thoughts,  and  strengthen 
your  mind  and  preserve  it  to  the  advantage  of  the  congrega- 
tion. For  if  you  will  deprive  yourself  of  the  ability  needed 
for  the  sacred  service,  the  cause  of  the  Master  will  suffer;  you 
will  be  without  sustenance,  and  can  help  neither  yourself  nor 
your  wife  in  these  distressing  circumstances.  And  I  pray 
that  God  may  consummate  the  work  of  his  grace  through  his 
word  and  Spirit  in  the  heart  of  our  sick  sister,  that  when  He 
who  owns  her  shall  call  her  she  may  depart  in  joyful  faith 
and  full  of  comfort.  You,  my  dear  brother,  are  now  like  the 
spring  in  the  watch.  Should  you  through  unnecessary  mel- 
ancholy, whims,  and  notions  be  confused  and  disabled  from 
preaching,  the  whole  work  will  end  in  disorder  and  confusion 
and  suffer  much  damage.  I  advise  you  to  take  much  exer- 
cise; this  will  drive  away  restless  caprices.  I  was  glad  to  learn 
you  visited  old  Burkhard  and  administered  to  him  the  Lord's 
Supper.  Be  not  faithless,  but  believing,  manly,  and  strong  in 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  beware  of  disorders  of  the  mind  which 
change  gnats  into  elephants.  The  sainted  Luther  says,  Oratio, 
meditatio,  et  tentatio  will  make  a  theologian."  Miihlenberg 
adds  that  he  intended  to  pay  a  visit  to  Streit  and  to  his  wife, 
but  was  not  well  enough  to  do  so.  In  all  this  letter  we  see 
the  intention  to  arouse  Brother  Streit  to  a  common-sense  view 
of  his  situation,  to  an  active  faith,  and  to  energy  of  will.  There 
is  not  the  least  sentimentality  in  it,  but  a  real  desire  to  do 
good  to  the  brother. 

While  pastor  in  Philadelphia,  Miihlenberg  had  become  one 
of  the  sponsors  of  a  certain  young  man  who  had  so  far  ad- 
vanced in  years  as  to  realize  his  duty  to  become  a  member 
of  the  Church.  To  satisfy  his  own  conscience,  Miihlenberg 
addressed  (April  26,  1787)  the  following  letter  to  him  in 
English : 

"  MUCH  ESTEEMED  FRIEND  i  Divine  Providence  has  brought 
us  into  a  certain  relation  and  connection  by  which  we  are 
obliged  to  answer  before  God  Almighty.  When  I  had  the 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  509 

honor  to  engraft  you  by  holy  baptism  into  the  kingdom  of 
Christ  our  Saviour,  and  stand  godfather  upon  request  of  your 
beloved  father  and  mother,  who  were  faithful  members  of  the 
German  Evangelical  religion  and  Church,  I,  together  with  your 
dear  parents,  promised,  by  the  help  of  God,  to  see  you  edu- 
cated and  instructed  in  the  principles  of  our  holy  religion  to 
become  an  exemplary  Christian  in  deed.  Your  beloved  pa- 
rents were  early  promoted  to  eternity  and  you  left  an  inno- 
cent orphan  in  this  state  of  trial  and  vexation.  A  wonderfully 
kind  and  merciful  Providence  has  been  leading  you  to  the 
years  of  discretion  endowed  with  sound  reason,  understand- 
ing, and  wisdom,  and  it  is  now  time  to  perform  and  fulfil  the 
sacred  promise,  vow,  and  covenant  on  our  side  solemnly  made 
in  holy  baptism — viz.  to  become  a  true  and  faithful  member 
of  our  blessed  Saviour  in  his  kingdom  of  grace  by  preparing 
and  partaking  the  ordained  and  commanded  Lord's  Supper  as 
the  Lord  himself  enjoins :  '  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me,' 
and  '  You  are  my  friends  if  you  do  whatsoever  I  command 
you.'  If  you  have  a  mind  so  to  do  and  to  join  with  our  holy 
religion  and  communion,  which  affordeth  sound  and  saving 
doctrine  sufficient  for  justifying  faith  and  sanctifying  life,  you 
may  easily  spend  some  hours  in  the  evening  to  converse  either 
with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kunze  or  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Helmuth,  who 
liveth  at  Mr.  Keppele's,  not  far  from  your  abode,  who  will  be 
kind  enough  to  give  you  advice  concerning  preparation  and 
confirmation.  If  you  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his 
righteousness,  purchased  by  the  sufferings  and  death  of  our 
Saviour  for  your  precious  immortal  soul,  the  rest  pertaining  to 
an  honest  bodily  maintenance  will  be  added  by  industry  and 
frugality.  For  what  is  a  man  profited  if  he  should  gain  the 
whole  transient  world  and  lose  his  soul  ?  I  know  your  con- 
science and  feelings  are  too  tender  to  imitate  other  irreligious 
young  gentlemen  who  walk  in  the  broad  way  that  leadeth, 
after  a  short  foolish  pleasure,  to  endless  misery,  woe,  and 
destruction. 

"  Hoping,  much  esteemed  friend,  you  will  not  take  my  sim- 
ple admonition  amiss,  nor  neglect  the  most  important  point 


510  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

tending  to  your  temporal  welfare  and  eternal  happiness  and 
to  the  ease  of  my  conscience,  I  recommend  you  to  the  tender 
mercy  of  our  most  glorious  Redeemer  and  to  the  most  gra- 
cious influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  only  true  Comforter; 
and  remain  your  well-wishing  friend  and  servant, 

«H.  M.,  SR." 

What  tender  care  for  a  young  man  exposed  to  many  dan- 
gers and  temptations  is  here  exhibited !  We  see  that  Miihl- 
enberg  was  very  far  from  considering  the  sponsorship  a  mere 
form.  It  was  exactly  in  the  same  spirit  that  in  the  leisure 
hours  of  evening  he  instructed  a  servant-girl  in  spelling,  read- 
ing and  the  Catechism,  because  in  her  youth  she  had  been  neg- 
lected in  those  things. 

Hardly  anything  ever  aroused  a  livelier  indignation  in  Miihl- 
enberg  than  the  information  he  received  (April  21,  1784)  that 
Rev.  W.  Kurtz,  formerly  of  Earltown  (New  Holland),  later  of 
Lebanon,  Pa.,  brother  of  the  highly-respected  Rev.  J.  Nic. 
Kurtz  of  York,  Pa.,  at  a  special  conference  had  maintained 
and  intended  to  demonstrate  that  the  apostles  had  preached 
false  doctrines,  that  especially  St.  Paul  had  introduced  in 
Rom.  ix.-xi.  pharisaic  leaven  de  facto,  and  that  we  must  ex- 
clusively follow  the  teachings  of  Christ  himself.  Miihlen- 
berg's  letter  to  him,  while  it  breathes  a  spirit  of  grief,  is  in 
its  tone  most  decided,  spares  the  offender  in  no  way,  shows 
up  the  consequences  of  such  confused  and  frivolous  notions, 
and  puts  W.  Kurtz  into  the  predicament  of  "  a  mere  appren- 
tice in  theology,  and  a  man  of  weak  judgment  who  has  no 
conception  of  the  compass  of  the  inner  connection  of  the 
teachings  of  Christ,  and  apparently  had  no  occasion,  neither 
sought  it,  to  read  and  to  study  the  paraphrases  and  annota- 
tions of  the  most  approved  theologians — who  does  not  know 
the  depths  of  Satan,  thinks  entirely  too  much  of  himself,  and 
does  not  guard  against  his  own  thoughts."  "  You  remind 
me,"  says  Muhlenberg,-"of  a  man  who  wished  to  buy  a  Bible 
of  me,  but  emphatically  and  frivolously  added,  '  But  one  with- 
out glosses,  for  I  make  my  own  glosses.'  "  Finally,  Miihlen- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR   MUHLENBERG.  511 

berg  writes :  "  Until  something  better  is  proposed,  I  know  no 
better  counsel  than — I.  That  I,  provided  my  life  is  spared,  at 
the  next  meeting  of  the  Ministerium  lay  this  matter  before  the 
same,  with  the  request  to  appoint  a  committee  and  to  have 
this  subject  impartially  investigated.  2.  Such  committee  should 
demand  of  Rev.  Wm.  Kurtz  a  declaration  in  writing  and  argu- 
ments supporting  his  propositions,  to  investigate  them  as  time 
and  opportunity  may  be  given,  and  send  in  their  judgment  in 
writing  to  the  prases  ministerii.  3.  Suppose  that  he,  Rev.  W. 
Kurtz,  could  ,not  substantiate  his  propositions  (in  my  opinion 
they  cannot  be  proved),  but  would  continue  to  be  opinionated 
and  make  no  retraction,  the  Rev.  Ministerium,  for  conscience' 
sake,  would  be  necessitated  to  exclude  him  until  a  change  for 
the  better  would  take  place  in  his  views,  to  warn  the  congre- 
gations against  him,  and  to  report  on  the  unfortunate  affair 
to  the  Right  Rev.  the  Fathers  in  Europe.  For  such  cancers 
seem  at  first  only  trifling  excrescences,  but  soon  are  enlarged 
unless  the  root  is  cut  out  in  proper  time ;  and  a  little  leaven 
can  easily  leaven  the  whole  lump."  In  conclusion,  Miihlenberg 
assures  W.  Kurtz  that  true  love  and  interest  in  his  true  wel- 
fare as  a  brother  dictated  this  letter.  The  answer  of  W. 
Kurtz  (dated  Lebanon,  May  19,  1785)  contains  a  humble  ad- 
mission that  he  sometimes  allows  his  tongue  too  much  free- 
dom, but,  avoiding  the  main  point  of  the  accusation,  lays 
stress  upon  the  exceptional  position  of  our  Lord  Christ,  who 
alone  was  the  perfect,  infallible  Teacher  whom  God  had 
anointed  with  the  oil  of  gladness  above  his  fellows  (Heb. 
i.  9). 

Oct.  21,  1784,  Miihlenberg  rejoiced  over  the  arrival  of  a 
letter  from  his  friend  and  colaborer  C.  M.  Wrangel,  dated 
Sahla  in  Sweden,  June  15,  1784.  It  shows  Wrangel's  con- 
tinued attachment  to  his  friend,  and,  in  addition  to  the  expres- 
sions of  brotherly  love,  contains  various  items  which  may  be 
of  interest  to  our  readers.  Speaking  of  himself  and  contrast- 
ing his  changed  situation  with  his  experience  in  America,  he 
says  (we  give  his  own  English) :  "  As  for  my  part,  I  suppose 
you  have  heard  that  after  my  return  I  have  been  called  to 


512  LIFE  AND  'TIMES   OF 

bear  the  testimony  of  the  ever-blessed  Saviour  before  a  court 
and  the  great  of  this  world.  Instead  of  riding  on  horseback, 
I  have  b^en  obliged  to  drive  in  stately  coaches ;  but  believe, 
sir,  I  have  always  had  my  heart  and  spirit  in  America,  and  all 
the  honor  and  favor  of  the  world  have  been  as  nothing  to  me 
against  the  pleasure  to  labor  with  the  Lord's  singular  bless- 
ing, you  being  my  fellow-laborer  and  sufferer.  I  am  now  set- 
tled in  a  very  comfortable  manner,  in  a  very  pleasant  part  of 
the  country,  having  two  parishes  and  four  assistant  ministers 
and  sixteen  congregations  under  mine  inspection  as  provost. 
I  keep  my  station  at  court  as  great  almoner  and  chaplain  of 
the  Most  Honor.  Order  of  Seraphim,  but  the  travelling  sev- 
eral times  a  year  for  six  years  hurt  so  much  my  health  that 
I  was  obliged  to  ask  my  dismission."  Speaking  of  America, 
he  continues :  "  Mr.  Acrelius  is  in  life,  but  'most  blind,  and 
unable  to  do  anything.  The  society  pro  fide  et  CJiristianis- 
mo  flourishes  by  the  blessing  of  God,  and  the  place  of  our 
archbishopric  is  filled  with  a  zealous  and  pious  man,  the 
worthy  Dr.  Menander.  He  esteems  and  loves  your  name 
very  much.  I  am  now  about  to  write  the  History  of  the  Ger- 
man Lutheran  Congregations  in  America,  and  the  first  volume 
is  under  the  press.  I  am  happy  to  have  an  opportunity  to 
open  a  scene  of  divine  mercy  in  which  the  Lord  has  pleased 
to  honor  you  in  so  remarkable  a  manner.  I  should  be  glad 
to  have  a  complete  account  of  that  which  has  happened  since 
my  time,  for  the  second  part.  Your  son-in-law,  Mr.  Kunze, 
has  honored  me  with  a  letter,  to  which  I  returned  an  answer, 
by  way  of  Cadiz,  and  hope  it  has  come  safe  to  hand.  Our 
agent  of  that  place  has  given  notice  that  it  was  sent  open  to 
Philadelphia.  I  sent  him  seven  pieces  for  you  that  have  been 
printed  by  me,  of  which  the  sermon  printed  on  the  king's 
coronation,  on  the  great  Revolution,  and  on  the  opening  of 
the  Order  of  Wasa,  were  published  by  the  king's  special 
command.  I  have  since  published  a  treatise  on  the  character 
of  our  Lord  as  Saviour  of  the  world,  and  am  about  to  print 
a  Commentary  on  the  Gospel  of  St.  John''  Of  all  this,  the 
volume  published  on  the  History  of  the  German  Lutheran 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  513 

Congregations  in  America  would  to  us  have  most  interest, 
for  we  never  saw  a  copy  of  it.  Miihlenberg's  answer  (dated 
Oct.  22,  1784),  framed  in  his  usual  courteous  style,  compares 
Wrangel  with  Joseph,  who  in  Egypt  finally  was  raised  to 
highest  honors,  but  forgot  neither  his  God  nor  his  father's 
house,  and  then  gives  an  outline  of  the  condition  of  the  Ger- 
man Lutheran  congregations  at  the  time  of  writing.  It  espe- 
cially speaks  of  those  pastors  of  whom  Wrangel  still  had  a 
remembrance,  and  of  the  prominent  events  in  Miihlenberg's 
life  since  Wrangel's  departure.  Miihlenberg's  sons  also,  in 
whom  Wrangel  had  taken  a  friendly  interest,  came  in  for  a 
share,  and  no  less  Kunze,  Helmuth,  Schulze,  Schmidt,  and 
Krug.  He  says  that  he  is  unable  to  give  any  report  on  the 
Swedish  pastors,  since  they  no  longer  desire  a  more  intimate 
relation  with  the  Germans,  and  since  the  circumstances  are 
changed.  To  his  signature  he  adds  Candidatus  mortis.  The 
correspondence  between  the  two  old  friends  had  been  inter- 
rupted since  1773,  and  soon  ceased  altogether,  Miihlenberg 
(April  22,  1787)  receiving  news  of  Wrangel's  death. 

Miihlenberg's  interest  in  the  unfortunate  Ebenezer  (Ga.) 
congregation  never  ceased.  Since  the  War  of  Independence 
all  there  was  confusion.  Triebner,  as  Dr.  Urlsperger  of  Augs- 
burg informed  Miihlenberg,  had  delivered  to  the  authorities 
in  England  *  the  most  valuable  legal  documents  affecting  the 
finances  of  the  congregation — an  act  of  justice  for  which 
Miihlenberg  willingly  gave  him  credit.  But  the  consequences 
of  violent  dissensions,  with  those  arising  from  the  disorders 
never  absent  in  war-times,  could  not  so  soon  be  removed.  Ra- 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.  J.  G.  Burkhardt,  pastor  of  the  German  Lutheran  Savoy  congre- 
gation (St.  Mary's  Church),  London,  in  his  History  of  the  German  Congregations 
of  London,  published  1798,  relates  that  "a  certain  Mr.  Triebner"  arrived  from 
Ebenezer,  Ga.,  in  London,  and  made  the  attempt  to  force  himself  as  an  assistant 
pastor  upon  the  Savoy  congregation,  but  was  neither  here  nor  afterward  by  Rev. 
Wachsel  of  St.  George's  congregation  desired  in  that  capacity.  For  some  years 
he  officiated  successively  in  two  chapels  rented  for  this  purpose.  Of  a  book 
published  by  him  in  London  with  the  title,  Valleys  of  Death  at  Ebenezer,  or 
Anecdotes  of  Twenty-four  Years  in  the  Ministry,  Burkhardt  says  that  it  contains 
nothing  of  interest  to  the  public. 
33 


514  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

benhorst's  death  and  Triebner's  flight  left  the  people  without 
a  pastor.  A  number  of  other  leading  men  had  died  or  moved 
away.  Mr.  Treutlen — in  whom  Miihlenberg  had  placed  much 
confidence,  and  who  was  a  courageous  adherent  of  the  Amer- 
ican cause — was  obliged  to  leave  Ebenezer;  he  moved  to 
South  Carolina,  bought  himself  a  plantation  and  house,  was 
called  to  the  door  one  night  by  five  Tories,  rudely  dragged 
into  a  swamp,  and  there  literally  cut  to  pieces.  For  a  time  an 
unworthy  subject — Fr.  Gerresheim,  who  had  left  a  wife  living 
in  Maryland  and  married  another  at  Ebenezer — tried  to  palm 
himself  off  as  pastor  upon  the  congregation.  The  people, 
hearing  of  the  prospect  of  one  of  Miihlenberg's  sons  (Fred. 
Augustus)  coming  as  a  pastor  to  their  relief,  rejoiced  and 
went  to  work  to  repair  Zion  Church,  but  finally  were  disap- 
pointed in  their  hope.  The  condition  was  most  discouraging. 
Miihlenberg  made  every  effort  to  advise  the  members  through 
correspondence,  and  in  their  behalf  addressed  letters  to  influ- 
ential men  in  Ebenezer,  Savannah,  London,  and  Augsburg. 
Finally,  in  1785,  Rev.  J.  E.  Bergmann  arrived,  well  recom- 
mended, from  Germany,  and  entered  upon  his  pastoral  duties. 
He  was  a  man  of  good  character,  but  very  latitudinarian  in 
his  associations,  fraternized  with  Methodists  and  Baptists,  and 
opened  the  way  to  rapacious  clerical  representatives  of  various 
denominations.  He  unfortunately  was  averse  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  English  language  in  the  public  services,  though  the 
spiritual  interests  of  the  younger  generation  demanded  the 
change.  The  German  has  for  many  years  ceased  to  be  heard 
there;  but  when,  in  1824,  Bergmann  died,  the  congregation 
had  lost  almost  all  the  distinctive  features  of  a  Lutheran  con- 
gregation, and  could  not  in  subsequent  times  regain  them. 

To  receive  letters  from  absent  members  of  his  family  or 
•from  his  former  colaborers  in  pastoral  and  synodical  work 
always  proved  to  H.  M.  Miihlenberg  a  source  of  much  com- 
fort. The  letters  of  his  sons  and  daughters  and  of  his  sons- 
in-law  are  beautiful  evidences  of  the  high  esteem  and  the 
tender  filial  love  in  which  he  was  held.  Those  of  his  son 
Henry,  after  1780  pastor  of  the  Lancaster  congregation, 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  515 

show  a  most  beautiful  frankness,  allowing  the  venerable  father 
to  see  into  his  inner  life :  he  speaks  of  the  detail  of  his  pastor- 
al work,  of  his  manner  of  preparing  his  sermons,  of  his  encour- 
aging and  discouraging  experiences,  of  the  spiritual  condition 
of  his  congregation.  We  know  that  the  son,  by  inclination 
and  talent  devoted  to  the  study  of  natural  sciences,  was  con- 
sidered an  authority,  especially  in  botany,  and  his  name  was 
held  in  the  highest  honor  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic ;  but 
it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  on  this  account 
he  considered  his  clerical  office  a  matter  of  secondary  con- 
cern :  the  accounts  he  gives  his  father  of  his  labors  in  his 
study  and  among  his  membership  prove  the  reverse.  We 
may  here  take  occasion  to  allude  to  a  certain  element  in  the 
mental  framework  of  the  father  which  points  in  the  direction 
of  natural  science.  In  his  course  of  study  he  had  paid  some 
attention  to  the  medical  art,  and  never  lost  his  interest  in  it. 
During  the  years  of  his  retirement  at  Providence  he  was  fre- 
quently requested  to  advise  in  various  cases  of  sickness.  He 
never  pretended  to  be  a  professional  physician,  and  always 
gave  his  advice  gratuitously.  It  happened  in  a  very  serious 
case  that  two  regular  physicians  requested  his  presence  at 
their  consultation.  Whenever  he  speaks  of  cases  of  sickness 
where  his  advice  was  asked,  he  uses  professional  terms  in- 
dicative of  his  information  on  the  subject.  As  a  proof  of  his 
sound  sense  also  in  such  matters  we  quote  a  remark  made 
in  his  diary  when,  in  the  autumn  of  1784,  he  heard  of  the 
terrible  sickness  by  which  his  son-in-law,  Rev.  Schulze,  and 
his  wife  were  prostrated  at  Tulpehoken ;  whic.h  remark  calls 
forth  an  excusable  smile.  He  was  too  weak  to  go  to  Tul- 
pehoken, but  .he  had  his  sick  and  suffering  son  and  daughter 
constantly  before  his  mind,  wished  to  know  the  course  of  med- 
ical treatment,  and,  having  learned  of  it,  writes  in  his  diary : 
"  There  is  an  old  obnoxious  German  custom  prevalent  of 
keeping  sick  people  smothering  under  heavy  covers,  and,  so 
to  say,  almost  immuring  them  in  the  sick  chamber,  making 
the  stove  red  hot  and  preventing  the  entrance  of  fresh,  whole- 
some air.  Physicians  of  common  sense  will  say  that  a  mouth- 


5l6  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

ful  of  fresh,  wholesome  air  is  worth  to  the  sick  man  more 
than  a  tablespoonful  of  medicine."  Truly,  a  man  of  such  prac- 
tical views  deserved  the  confidence  of  the  sick.  Again  refer- 
ring to  Rev.  G.  H.  E.  Miihlenberg  of  Lancaster,  we  are  happy 
to  state  that  the  aged  father's  heart  was  a  few  months  before 
the  end  of  his  life  gladdened  by  the  news  that  at  the  meeting 
of  synod  in  June,  1787,  his  son  was  elected  president. 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  517 


CHAPTER    XXX. 
1776-1787. 

Respect  shown  to  their  senior,  Miihlenberg,  by  the  Ministerium. — He  is  lovingly 
remembered  at  Halle. — Sebast.  Anclr.  Fabricius. — Muhlenberg's  last  pastoral 
acts. — His  last  sickness  and  his  death. — Respect  shown  to  his  memory  through- 
out  the  Church. — Memorial  sermons  preached  by  Rev.  Drs.  Helmuth  and 
Kunze. — Their  delineation  of  Muhlenberg's  personality  and  work. — His 
descendants. — His  grave,  and  the  inscription  thereon. 

THE  members  of  the  ministerium  never  ceased  to  show 
their  senior,  who  no  longer  was  able  to  be  present  with 
them  at  their  annual  conventions,  unaffected  deference  and 
sincere  love.  Not  only  were  the  minutes  sent  to  him,  but 
his  advice  was  asked  in  all  matters  of  importance,  and  his 
services  were  employed  as  far  as  he  could  give  them,  as  in 
the  work  of  preparing  the  hymnbook.  Helmuth  informs  him 
specially  of  certain  changes  made  in  that  book  and  in  the  Lit- 
urgy. The  proof-sheets  are  sent  to  him,  and  he  is  made  to  feel 
that  the  respectful  attachment  of  the  brethren  and  the  value 
of  his  services  are  in  no  way  diminished.  To  them  his  heart 
and  his  house  are  open,  and  visits  of  one  or  another  of  them 
were  considered  cheering  occasions.  Among  them  appeared 
also  (Nov.  10,  1786)  Rev.  Hartwig,  who  had  not  yet  changed 
his  roving  disposition.  In  the  same  year  Miihlenberg  received 
the  last  visit  of  Rev.  Dr.  Kunze  and  his  family  from  New  York. 
Rev.  Voigt,  who  during  those  years  served  the  Providence 
congregation,  was  expected  at  the  house  of  Muhlenberg  every 
Sunday  on  which  he  had  services  in  the  Augustus  Church ; 
and  whenever,  under  pressure  of  engagements,  Voigt  failed  to 
come,  the  failure  was  noted  in  the  diary. 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  peace  between  America  and  the 


5l8  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

mother-country,  Muhlenberg  received  letters  frorh  Halle  which 
clearly  proved  to  him  that  there  he  was  not  forgotten,  but  was 
kept  in  sweet  remembrance.  Of  course,  the  number  of  those 
with  whom  more  than  forty  years  before  he  had  associated  in 
Halle  and  other  places,  and  who  still  lived,  was  a  very  small 
one.  Among  those  who  had  served  with  Muhlenberg  in  the 
Halle  institute  was  that  good  man  Sebastian  Andr.  Fabricius, 
who  in  a  letter  dated  March  19,  1785,  informed  him  of  the 
death  of  Rev.  Dr.  Freylinghausen — which  had  taken  place 
Feb.  1 8,  1785 — and  assured  him  of  the  high  esteem  in  which 
he  had  always  been  held  by  this  venerable  father.  He  very 
pleasantly  reminds  him  of  the  honorable  remembrance  in 
which  all  the  leading  men  connected  with  the  Halle  Orphan- 
House  held  him,  and  especially  alludes  to  the  fraternal  in- 
tercourse they  had  enjoyed  forty-three  years  before,  when 
Muhlenberg,  departing  for  Pennsylvania,  was  a  guest  at  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Francke's  house.  Fabricius  knew — perhaps  better 
than  any  other  man  in  Europe — of  Miihlenberg's  labors  and 
hardships  in  America.  A  brother  of  John  Philip  Fabricius  of 
the  East  India  missions,  he  had  been  for  many  years  private 
secretary  to  Rev.  G.  A.  Francke,  D.  D.,  and  later  served  as 
inspector  of  the  Canstein  Bible  Society.  Through  his  hands 
passed  the  correspondence  of  the  East  India  and  Pennsylva- 
nia missions,  and  to  a  large  extent  he  prepared  the  material 
published  in  the  Halle  Reports.  He  always  proved  himself  a 
warm-hearted,  faithful  friend  of  Muhlenberg  and  his  family. 
When  (Jan.  10,  1790)  he  departed  this  life  his  death  was  felt 
as  a  great  loss  by  an  extensive  circle  of  friends. 

It  was  an  agreeable  circumstance  that  during  the  last  years 
of  Miihlenberg's  life  a  number  of  his  children,  with  their  fam- 
ilies, lived  in  his  neighborhood  and  could  often  come  to  visit 
the  aged  father.  The  families  Swaine  and  Richards  were  in 
those  years  settled  at  New  Hanover;  Frederick  Augustus, 
though  frequently  necessitated  to  be  at  Philadelphia,  had  his 
family  at  Providence ;  J.  Peter  Gabriel  Muhlenberg,  major- 
general  U.  S.  A.,  had  at  various  times  to  travel  to  Virginia 
and  the  West,  but  for  a  time  was  also  sojourning  quite  near 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  519 

to  the  paternal  home  or  came  from  time  to  time  as  a  visitor ; 
Rev.  Dr.  Kunze  of  New  York,  whom  official  duties  and  the 
inconveniences  of  travelling  prevented  from  making  more  fre- 
quent visits  at  Providence,  did  not  omit  in  his  correspondence 
to  inform  the  venerable  father  of  his  experience  in  his  new 
field  of  labor,  of  his  literary  work  and  publications,  and  of 
his  views  on  the  most  recent  inroads  of  Rationalism  into  the- 
ology. April  29,  1787,  Muhlenberg  and  his  wife  for  the  last 
time  had  the  pleasure  of  having  all  their  children,  save  Mrs. 
Kunze,  with -them,  and  also  a  considerable  number  of  grand- 
children. When  one  of  the  latter — young  Andrew  Schulze 
of  Tulpehoken — recited  to  the  grandfather  no  less  than  six 
German  hymns,  the  fact  was  entered  in  the  diary.  No  less 
the  quaint  answer  which  one  of  the  little  ones  gave  to  the 
grandfather's  question :  "  With  what  sense  do  we  become  aware 
of  the  things  around  us."  "With  the  tongue,"  said  the  boy; 
and  grandfather  thought  there  was  considerable  truth  in  it. 

We  know  that  Muhlenberg  was  at  all  times  most  welcome 
in  the  pulpit  of  the  Philadelphia  congregation.  In  1779,  and 
again  in  1782  at  the  rededication  of  Zion  Church,  he  preached 
there ;  we  have  discovered  no  proof  that  he  preached  there 
after  this  time.  In  the  month  of  June,  1783,  he  was  invited, 
during  the  absence  of  Kunze  at  the  synodical  meeting  at  York, 
Pa.,  to  come  to  Philadelphia  and  assist  Helmuth,  but  excused 
himself,  saying  that  he  was  too  feeble  and  could  not  leave  his 
sick  wife,  but  if,  by  stress  of  circumstances,  it  must  be,  they 
should  send  a  light  wagon  and  a  strong  horse  and  take  him  to 
Philadelphia  "living  or  dead,  whole  or  in  pieces;"  and  added 
that  he  and  his  wife  were  best  fitted  for  a  hospital  or  a  grave. 

After  retiring  from  Philadelphia  he  had  performed  pastoral 
services  at  New  Hanover,  where,  in  November,  1742,  he  had 
preached  his  first  sermon  in  Pennsylvania.  His  regular  ser- 
vices there  came  to  an  end  in  1780,  though  he  yet  assisted  in 
the  following  year  in  that  place.  He  could  not  avoid  on  cer- 
tain occasions  in  later  years  doing  pastoral  services  at  Prov- 
idence. His  last  sermon  he  preached  there  Sept.  26,  1784. 
The  increasing  swelling  of  his  feet  made  walking  very  difficult 


52O  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

for  him — he  had  to  be  assisted  in  ascending  the  pulpit — and 
the  frequent  spells  of  giddiness  to  which  he  was  exposed  em- 
barrassed him  greatly.  In  rare  cases  he  delivered  funeral 
addresses,  sometimes  performed  marriage  ceremonies  at  his 
house,  and  baptized  children  who  were  brought  to  him.  In- 
creasing physical  weakness  prevented  outdoor  exercise  and 
exposure  during  his  latter  years.  He  left  Providence  the 
last  time  July  9,  1787,  when  his  children  sent  a  wagon  from 
New  Hanover,  and  for  a  few  days  had  father  and  mother 
with  them.  It  proved  a  great  exertion  to  the  enfeebled 
parents.  As  for  years  Mrs.  Miihlenberg  was  prevented  by 
her  nervous  disorders  from  worshipping  with  the  congrega- 
tion, and  he  for  the  last  few  years  of  his  pilgrimage  on  earth 
was  unable  to  walk  to  the  church,  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
distant  from  his  house,  he  held  special  services  every  Sunday 
at  his  private  dwelling  with  his  family. 

Calling  to  our  remembrance  all  the  excessive  hardships 
which  Miihlenberg  had  endured  in  his  pastoral  and  mission- 
ary labors  in  a  country  where  bridges  rarely  spanned  the 
rivers  and  creeks,  the  roads  during  a  large  part  of  the  year 
were  almost  impassable,  and  the  traveller  was  frequently  ex- 
posed to  all  the  inclemencies  of  the  weather  without  being 
able  in  proper  season  to  find  shelter  and  comfortable  lodg- 
ings, we  cannot  wonder  that  the  energies  of  nature  became 
exhausted  in  one  who  never  placed  pleasure  above  duty.  We 
add  to  all  these  disadvantages  the  severe  claims  continually 
laid  upon  his  mind  and  his  soul.  We  are  not  surprised  that 
the  body  was  almost  prematurely  exhausted,  but  we  are  as- 
tonished to  learn  that  to  the  very  end  his  intellect  retained 
its  wonted  vigor  and  freshness.  During  the  last  years  of  his 
life  Miihlenberg  keenly  felt  his  inability  to  move  about  and 
to  labor  in  the  service  of  his  Master,  which  to  him  was  the 
life  and  the  light  of  his  soul.  Here  and  there  in  his  diary  he 
speaks  of  himself  as  a  pondus  inutile  terra.  Others  never 
viewed  his  advanced  age  in  such  a  manner.  God  found  it 
best  before  his  end  to  lead  him  through  a  school  of  suffering 
to  perfect  and  consummate  in  his  servant  the  regenerating 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  $21 

work  of  his  Holy  Spirit.  And  we  rejoice  in  stating  that  in  all 
his  writings,  diaries,  and  correspondence  we  never  discover 
any  traces  of  an  abnormal,  morbid  disposition  of  mind,  of 
discontent,  or  of  murmuring  against  the  ways  of  the  Father 
in  heaven. 

Saturday,  Sept.  29,  1787,  Miihlenberg  entered  the  last  item 
in  his  diary.  In  the  habit  of  making  a  record  of  the  events 
of  each  day  of  his  life  he  continued  conscientiously  even  dur- 
ing the  years  of  his  infirmity,  though  toward  the  end  we 
observe  that  to  write  was  a  difficult  task  for  his  trembling 
hand.  But  we  are  thankful  that  even  then  he  indicated  with 
a  few  short,  telling  words  the  condition  of  his  mind  and  stated 
facts  which  nowhere  else  are  preserved  to  posterity.  It  de- 
serves to  be  mentioned  that  he  took  the  greatest  care  to  put 
his  house  in  order  also  as  to  external  things.*  All  his  ac- 

*  The  historiographer  of  Providence,  F.  G.  Hobson,  Esq.,  published  the  last  will 
of  Miihlenberg,  and  we  enter  here  some  of  his  sentences  :  "  In  the  name  of  God, 
Amen.  I,  Henry  Melchibr  Miihlenberg,  of  late  minister  of  the  German  Lutheran 
congregations  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  and  townships  of  New  Providence  and 
New  Hanover,  in  the  State  of  Pennsylvania,  being  old  and  weak  in  body,  but  of 
sound  understanding  and  memory — thanks  be  to  God  my  Saviour  ! — do  make  and 
ordain  this  my  last  Will  and  Testament :  that  is  to  say,  first  of  all  I  deliver  my  soul 
unto  Almighty  God,  my  Lord  and  Saviour,  who  gave  and  redeemed  the  same,  and 
my  body  I  recommend  to  the  earth,  to  be  buried  as  time  and  circumstances  may 
allow,  nothing  doubting  but  at  the  general  resurrection  I  shall  receive  the  same 
again  by  the  mighty  power  of  God.  And  as  touching  my  little  worldly  estate,  I 
give,  devise,  and  dispose  of  the  same  in  the  following  manner  and  form,  viz. :  I.  I 
give  and  bequeath  unto  Ann  Mary,  my  beloved  wife,  during  her  widowhood  and 
life,  all  my  real  and  personal  estate ;  that  is  to  say,  the  piece  in  New  Providence 
township,  where  we  live  upon,  containing  seven  acres  of  ground,  be  the  same 
more  or  less,  together  with  all  and  singular  the  buildings  and  appurtenances ;  a 
land  containing  ten  acres  of  ground,  be  the  same  more  or  less ;  moreover  a  lot  near 
the  German  Lutheran  church  at  New  Providence,  containing  three  acres  of  ground, 
be  the  same  more  or  less,  with  some  apple  trees  and  the  property  of  one-half  of  a 
draw-well  upon  the  line  between  mine  and  Mr.  Bateman's  lots,  and  whatsoever 
my  beloved  wife  Ann  Mary  has  a  right  unto  in  part  of  her  deceased  father  Conrad 
Weiser's  real  and  personal  estate  in  Reading,  Shamokin,  and  wheresoever,  together 
with  all  and  singular  my  personal  estate,  unto  her  own  possession  and  use  during 
her  widowhood  and  life,  upon  the  following  conditions,"  etc.  We  find,  also,  the 
following :  "  Mine  hereafter  constituted  Executrix  and  Executors  shall  be  pleased 
to  sort  my  Manuscripts,  Writings,  and  Journals,  and  whatever  belongs  to  the  Rev. 
Synod  of  the  United  German  Lutheran  Ministry  or  to  the  Attorneys  of  the  Legacy 


522  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

counts  were  in  the  most  perfect  order,  and  he  had  stated  in 
writing  where  documents  of  value  to  the  family  might  be 
found  after  his  decease. 

The  condition  of  Muhlenberg  during  the  year  1787  was 
frequently  exceedingly  painful.  To  dropsy,  the  premonitory 
symptoms  of  which  had  shown  themselves  years  before,  were 
added  various  concomitant  ailments  which  medical  skill  could 
hardly  alleviate,  never  remove.  Eight  days  before  his  enter- 
ing into  eternal  rest  he  seemed  to  improve  somewhat,  and 
exhibited  the  full  vigor  of  his  mind.  Voigt,  who  had  come 
to  see  him,  expressed  his  joy  at  the  sight  of  such  cheering 
symptoms,  but  the  aged  father,  fully  realizing  his  condition, 
told  Voigt  when  he  said  "  Farewell "  that  they  were  not  likely 
to  meet  again  in  this  world,  and  recited  a  verse  of  a  hymn  of 
Martin  Boehme  (Kirchenbuch,  No.  558)  which  he  used  to  quote 
in  days  of  health  : 

"A  heavy  road  before  me  lies 
Up  to  the  heavn'ly  paradise; 
My  lasting  home  is  there  with  Thee, 
Bought  with  thy  life-blood  once  for  me." 

In  this  diagnosis  of  the  state  of  his  health  he  was  not  mis- 
taken. Alarming  symptoms  were  noticed  on  the  following 
day,  and  continued  in  spite  of  all  medical  applications.  Day 
and  night  he  suffered  intense  pain ;  no  slumber  came  to  his 
eyes  and  he  could  breathe  only  with  great  difficulty.  The 
partner  of  his  life  and  almost  all  his  children  were  around 
him  in  great  distress.  From  time  to  time  words  full  of  faith 
and  love  fell  from  his  lips  and  encouraged  them.  He  placed 
before  his  spiritual  eye  his  blessed  Saviour  suffering  for  him 
on  the  cross,  and  to  Him  he  sent  his  sighs.  It  was  a  remark- 

or  to  the  Right  Rev.  Directors  at  Halle  in  Saxony,  or  to  any  individual — as,  for 
instance,  Documents,  Accounts,  Receipts,  Testimonies,  and  such  like — in  order  to 
deliver  them  to  such  persons  or  person  as  have  a  just  right  to  ask  for  or  receive  the 
same.  The  rest  of  my  writings  and  correspondence  may  be  preserved  for  some 
time,  in  case  one  or  another  important  question  should  arise  which  thereby  should 
be  decided  and  answered  solely."  He  appoints  his  wife  and  his  sons  (by  a  special 
codicil  Peter  Muhlenberg  among  them)  his  executors.  The  document  is  dated 
June  12,  1782,  and  revokes  all  and  every  other  will  formerly  made  by  him. 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG. 

able  phenomenon  that  shortly  before  his  end  his  hearing  re- 
turned. On  Saturday  evening,  his  strength  being  exhausted, 
he  apparently  entered  into  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death, 
yet  his  mind  was  perfectly  clear.  He  expected  to  die  at  mid- 
night, and  inquired  whether  it  were  not  yet  twelve  o'clock.  At 
his  request  two  of  his  children  took  him  to  bed.  There  re- 
clining, he  recited  the  last  verse  of  Paul  Gerhard's  immortal 
hymn,  Befiehl  du  deine  Wege,  etc. : 

"Haste,  Lord,  to  end  our  sorrow, 

Our  feeble  hands  support; 
Each  day  and  each  to-morrow 

Be  thou  our  soul's  resort. 
May  we  to  thy  great  mercy 

Till  death  commended  be, 
Then  shall  our  earthly  footsteps 

Us  safely  lead  to  thee." 

Having  finished  this  verse,  he  once  more  took  a  deep  breath, 
and  then  quietly  fell  asleep  in  Jesus.  The  spirit  of  the  ven- 
erable patriarch  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  America  had 
taken  flight  from  the  Church  militant  to  the  Church  trium- 
phant. The  faithful  servant  had  entered  into  the  joy  of  his 
Lord.  Henry  Melchior  Miihlenberg  breathed  his  last  between 
twelve  and  one  o'clock  on  Sunday  morning,  Oct.  7,  1787,  at 
the  age  of  seventy-six  years  and  thirty-one  days.  It  was  veri- 
fied by  his  death :  "  It  shall  come  to  pass  that  at  evening-time 
it  shall  be  light "  (Zach.  xiii.  7). 

The  news  of  the  death  of  the  aged  and  venerable  father, 
whose  name  and  fame  were  in  all  the  Lutheran  congrega- 
tions throughout  the  land  and  in  many  others,  spread  from 
Providence  as  rapidly  as  the  means  of  communication  in  those 
days  allowed,  and  everywhere  called  forth  deep  sympathy  and 
sorrow.  The  vestry  of  the  German  Lutheran  congregation  at 
Philadelphia,  thinking  that  they  had  particular  claims  in  this 
sad  case,  and  intending  to  do  all  possible  honor  to  the  mem- 
ory of  their  beloved  spiritual  father,  at  once  sent  two  delegates 
to  the  bereaved  family  in  behalf  of  the  congregation  to  request 
that  the  mortal  remains  of  the  deceased  might  be  conveyed  to 


524  LIFE  AND   TIMES  OF 

Philadelphia  and  there  be  given  a  resting-place  in  Zion  Church, 
in  the  pulpit  of  which  he  so  often  had  stood  before  thousands 
and  raised  his  voice  as  a  witness  of  God's  word.  The  family, 
fully  appreciating  the  most  honorable  proposition  of  the  Phil- 
adelphia vestry,  preferred  to  have  the  head  of  the  house  rest 
in  Providence  at  the  side  of  the  Augustus  Church,  where  al- 
ready some  of  the  children  whom  God  had  called  to  himself 
in  early  years  had  found  their  resting-place.  The  funeral  took 
place  Wednesday,  Oct.  loth,  and  was  attended  by  an  immense 
concourse  of  people.  Of  ministers  of  the  Lutheran  Church, 
besides  Rev.  G.  H.  E.  Miihlenberg,  D.  D.,  of  Lancaster,  there 
were  present  Rev.  Messrs.  Voigt,  Schulze,  Dr.  Helmuth,  Van 
Buskirk,  Wildbahn,  Roeller,  and  Lehman.  Rev.  M.  Schlat- 
ter,  of  the  Reformed  Church,  had  also  come  to  show  his  love 
and  esteem  for  his  old  friend  on  this  mournful  occasion. 
From  Philadelphia  and  from  localities  far  and  near  a  large 
number  of  friends  had  arrived  to  participate  in  the  obsequies. 
At  the  family  mansion  Dr.  Helmuth  offered  prayer.  The 
Augustus  Church  being  entirely  too  small  to  hold  all  the 
multitude  present,  Rev.  Voigt,  after  the  mortal  remains  had 
been  deposited  in  the  grave  on  the  east  side  of  the  church, 
delivered  an  address  under  the  open  sky  on  the  words  of  Ps. 
xv.  i,  2 :  "  Lord,  who  shall  abide  in  thy  tabernacle  ?  Who 
shall  dwell  in  thy  holy  hill  ?  He  that  walketh  uprightly  and 
worketh  righteousness  and  speaketh  the  truth  in  his  heart." 

Many  manifestations  of  respect  and  sympathy  testified  to 
the  high  veneration  entertained  for  H.  M.  Miihlenberg  within 
the  Lutheran  Church  and  beyond  its  limits.  Throughout 
the  whole  Church  there  was  a  decided  and  sincere  feeling 
that  a  mighty  one  in  Israel  had  fallen — that  the  congregations 
had  lost  one  who  in  the  providence  of  God  had  fulfilled  a 
great  mission  and  had  for  a  long  time  stood  high  among 
them  as  a  spiritual  father  and  a  most  excellent  adviser. 
In  most  of  the  churches  services  commemorative  of  the 
venerated  father  were  held  at  his  departure.  The  congrega- 
tion at  Lancaster  ordered  their  church-bells  to  be  tolled  with 
muffled  tongues  on  the  day  of  the  funeral.  The  churches 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  $2$ 

there,  at  Philadelphia,  and  at  New  York  were  also  draped  in 
mourning;  the  officers  of  the  congregations  wore  the  emblems 
of  mourning.  Even  in  some  Reformed  churches  the  minis- 
ters took  occasion  specially  to  testify  to  the  noble  qualities 
and  the  Christian  bearing  of  H.  M.  Miihlenberg. 

Of  the  sermons  preached  in  commemoration  of  his  death, 
two  have  come  down  to  posterity.  Both  are  on  the  same 
text  (2  Kings  ii.  12):  "And  Elisha  saw  it,  and  he  cried,  My 
father,  my  father,  the  chariot  of  Israel,  and  the  horsemen 
thereof!  And  he  saw  him  no  more;  and  he  took  hold  of 
his  own  clothes,  and  rent  them  in  two  pieces." 

One  of  these  two  sermons  was  delivered  in  Zion  Church, 
Philadelphia,  Oct.  21,  1787,  by  Rev.  J.  H.  Chr.  Helmuth,  whose 
theme  was,  "The  lamentation  which  is  allowed  upon  the  de- 
parture of  faithful  servants  of  God."  He  first  treats  of  the 
qualities  of  such  servants,  showing  that  they  not  only  are 
called  to  the  responsible  office,  but  faithfully  execute  its  im- 
portant duties.  As  such  a  one  he  describes  Elijah,  and  with 
him  compares  Miihlenberg.  As  Elijah  was  sent  to  the  Israel- 
ites, who  after  separating  themselves  from'  the  mother-Church 
at  Jerusalem  had  established  services  of  their  own  defiled  by 
pagan  abominations,  so  was  Miihlenberg  sent  by  Providence 
to  the  Lutheran  congregations  in  this  country  when  cut  off 
from  the  mother-Church  beyond  the  sea,  destitute  of  the 
proper  administration  of  the  gospel,  and  often  misled  by 
men  not  properly  called  to  the  pastoral  office  nor  qualified 
for  it.  As  Elijah  had  to  go  and  seek  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
house  of  Israel,  tell  them  of  the  true  God,  and  establish  his 
proper  service,  so  Miihlenberg  had  to  gather  into  congre- 
gations the  Lutherans  dispersed  over  a  large  territory,  bring 
them  into  proper  order,  preach  to  them  the  counsel  of  salva- 
tion, and  establish  divine  service  for  them.  As  Elijah  ho  doubt 
had  his  eye  on  the  schools  of  the  prophets  mentioned  in  his 
times  to  preserve  in  this  way  for  future  generations  the  sound 
doctrine  and  the  true  service  of  the  living  God,  so  Miihlen- 
berg never  ceased  to  care  for  the  Christian  education  of  the 
young,  and  to  provide  as  much  as  was  in  his  power  for  the 


526  LIFE  AND    TIMES  OF 

continuance  and  extent  of  the  preaching  of  the  word  of  God. 
As  Elijah  apparently  stood  alone  in  his  time  in  resisting  the 
encroaching  spiritual  destruction,  so  Miihlenberg  was  obliged 
in  his  days  to  carry  alone  the  heavy  burden  of  the  office ;  but, 
like  Elijah,  he  was  faithful  to  his  trust,  and  of  this  his  whole 
life  bears  ample  evidence.  Helmuth  then  proceeded  to  speak 
of  the  departure  of  teachers  having  the  character  of  Elijah 
as  an  exceedingly  heavy  loss  to  the  Israelites,  but  a  glorious 
testimony  of  God  in  his  behalf  and  a  triumph ;  and  then  very 
feelingly  spoke  of  the  final  years  and  days  of  Miihlenberg's 
life,  of  his  being  well  prepared  for  his  removal,  and  of  his 
peaceful  end  and  his  eternal  reward  in  heaven.  At  last  the 
speaker  refers  to  the  lament  of  Elisha  upon  the  departure  of 
his  beloved  spiritual  father,  and  to  the  universal  lamentation 
throughout  the  Church,  the  congregations,  and  all  the  mem- 
bership for  him  who  had  indeed  been  a  spiritual  father  to 
them,  whose  influence,  under  God's  blessing,  had  been  in  the 
highest  degree  beneficial,  and  the  remembrance  of  whom  is 
such  as  to  awaken  the  strongest  feelings  of  gratitude  on  the 
part  of  all  those  who  by  his  agency  were  led  to  Jesus. 

Helmuth's  sermon  delivered  on  that  mournful  occasion  was 
requested  for  publication  by  a  number  of  members  of  the  con- 
gregation. There  are  added  to  it  also  a  short  biographical 
sketch  of  the  departed,  which  contains  the  most  important 
events  of  his  life,  and  a  number  of  poetical  compositions 
which  strongly  testify  to  the  high  veneration  in  which  the 
aged  father  was  held. 

The  other  of  the  two  sermons  above  alluded  to  was  preached 
on  the  nineteenth  Sunday  after  Trinity,  1787,  in  the  Church 
of  the  Holy  Trinity  at  New  York  by  the  Rev.  J.  Chr.  Kunze, 
D.  D.,  son-in-law  of  Miihlenberg,  on  the  theme,  "  The  sorrow- 
ful wail  of  Elisha  after  the  departure  of  Elijah,  the  man  of 
God,  whom  he  loved."  This  sermon  is  dedicated  to  the 
"  Fathers "  in  Halle  and  to  other  friends  in  Germany  and 
in  England,  to  the  "  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gos- 
pel "  in  London,  to  the  Evangelical  Lutheran  Ministerium 
of  Pennsylvania  and  adjacent  States,  to  the  vestry  and  the 


HENRY  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBERG.  $2? 

members  of  St.  Michael  and  Zion  congregations  at  Philadel- 
phia, of  Trinity  congregation  at  New  York,  and  to  the  be- 
reaved widow  and  children  of  the  departed,  who  are  all  men- 
tioned by  name.  In  this  way  Dr.  Kunze  gathers  a  remark- 
able assembly  around  the  mortal  remains  of  the  beloved  father 
whose  memory  he  desires  to  honor.  More  elaborately  than 
Dr.  Helmuth  he  undertakes  to  delineate  the  character  and  the 
whole  being  of  the  eminent  man  with  whom  near  relationship 
connected  him,  and  whose  colaborer  in  the  pastoral  work  he 
had  been  for  fourteen  years.  He  begins  his  sermon  by  de- 
scribing the  peculiar  position  which  in  those  times  of  polit- 
ical .  and  religious  confusion  and  deterioration  Elijah  main- 
tained in  Israel.  There  the  prophet  in  his  holy  zeal  proved 
a  power  and  stemmed  the  tide  of  idolatry  which  had  broken 
in  upon  the  people  of  God.  To  Elijah,  and  to  the  large  num- 
ber of  those  who  came  under  his  influence  and  saw  in  him 
the  noble  type  of  the  true  servant  of  God,  he  proved  a  spir- 
itual father.  Thence  the  sad  wail  of  Elisha  when  he  saw 
himself  deprived  of  a  father  and  the  people  of  one  who  in 
himself  was  a  host,  a  mighty  power.  And  now  the  speaker 
beautifully  applies  the  words  of  his  text  to  him  whom  he 
mourns  and  whom  thousands  mourn  with  him.  With  the 
many  who,  like  himself,  had  enjoyed  intimate  intercourse 
with  the  departed,  received  instruction  and  advice  from  him, 
profited  by  his  rich  experience,  and  were  encouraged  by  his 
example,  he  deplored  his  loss  as  one  whom  they  honored  and 
loved  as  their  spiritual  father.  The  same,  he  continued,  was 
the  case  with  that  large  number  of  congregations  whom 
Miihlenberg  had  gathered,  assisted,  saved  from  utter  destruc- 
tion, encouraged,  organized,  and  most  faithfully  served.  Look- 
ing at  the  wide  field  over  which  the  services  of  the  deceased 
had  extended,  the  Lutheran  Church  of  this  country  as  a  whole 
had  cause  to  lament  the  loss  of  one  who  had  indeed  been  a 
father  to  her  in  the  best  sense  of  the  term.  All  this  was  suf- 
ficient proof  that  he  was  indeed  a  spiritual  power  among  all 
the  congregations,  and  that  all  the  members  of  the  Church, 
and  many  outside  of  her  limits,  deeply  and  mournfully  felt 


528  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

that  the  death  of  Miihlenberg  was  a  universal  calamity;  and 
that  a  mighty  man  in  Israel  had  fallen.  Entering  then  upon 
a  more  minute  delineation  of  the  personality,  the  intellectual 
endowments,  the  religious  and  moral  character  of  Miihlen- 
berg, he  says  that  the  secret  of  his  whole  being,  life,  work, 
and  success  was  a  beautiful  blending  of  natural  gifts  with 
those  of  divine  grace.  Of  the  natural  gifts  he  mentions  a 
robust  body  and  vigorous  health,  which  alone  enabled  him 
for  so  many  years  and  in  trying  circumstances  to  carry  all 
the  burden  laid  upon  him,  and  to  continue  to  have  at  heart 
until  two  years  before  his  peaceful  end  the  great  concerns  of 
the  Church  after  he  could  no  longer  perform  the  regular 
duties  of  the  pastor.  On  account  of  the  vivacity  of  his  intel- 
lect, which  surprised  all  who  came  into  contact  with  him, 
Kunze  calls  him  the  Luther  of  America,  and  says  that  this 
very  quality,  connected  with  much  good-nature,  made  inter- 
course with  Miihlenberg  so  attractive ;  nor  had  he  ever  met 
anybody  who  in  conversation  with  all  sorts  of  people  had 
shown  more  consideration,  more  good-will  toward  others, 
and  had  been  more  entertaining.  Auxiliaries  to  this  happy 
faculty  were  good-humor,  unaffected  wit,  a  most  retentive 
memory,  and  a  penetrating  judgment.  Miihlenberg's  solid 
and  comprehensive  erudition,  Kunze  confesses,  far  surpassed 
what  he  had  expected  to  find.  He  says  that  he  had  more 
accurately  mastered  the  ancient  languages  than  had  many  a 
scholar,  was  an  adept  in  theology,  mental  philosophy,  and 
medical  science,  and  in  proclaiming  the  word  of  God  was 
able  to  use  not  only  the  German  language — which  he  handled 
with  peculiar  originality  and  force — but  also  the  English, 
French,  Dutch,  Bohemian,  and  had  also  some  knowledge  of 
the  Swedish.  All  these  excellent  qualities  and  abilities  were 
under  the  sanctifying  and  controlling  influence  of  grace  and 
of  the  Spirit  from  on  High.  Miihlenberg  not  only  preached 
of  conversion,  but  he  was  a  converted  man,  and  out  of  the 
experience  of  heart  and  life  he  testified  to  the  power  of  the 
Spirit.  And  his  whole  personality,  walk,  and  conversation 
was  full  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit.  He  was  of  a  rare  humil- 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  529 

ity,  and  his  humble  opinion  of  himself  sometimes  moved  him 
to  bestow  rather  too  freely  upon  others  honors  which  he 
never  took  for  himself.  Without  being  artful,  he  was  in  his 
intercourse  with  others  eminently  prudent.  This  gained  for 
him  their  confidence,  and  thus  gave  them  the  benefit  of  his 
advice ;  and  by  his  prudence  he  escaped  snares  which  were 
laid  for  him  under  various  pretexts.  In  him  there  was  no 
selfishness.  His  disinterestedness  and  his  liberality  rested 
on  the  firm  conviction  that  God  would  never  forsake  him 
and  those  belonging  to  him,  for  whom  he  could  not  gather 
earthly  riches.  Dr.  Kunze  also  speaks  of  his  readiness  to 
forgive  and  to  be  reconciled  with  those  who  had  become  em- 
bittered against  him.  His  self-possessed  manners  and  his  un- 
affected kindness  often  disarmed  his  enemies  and  converted 
them  into  friends.  While  he  was  very  mild  and  tender  of 
heart,  he  was  firm  and  unbending  in  his  convictions  and  prin- 
ciples, and  would  not  spare  those  who,  in  spite  of  his  warn- 
ings, continued  to  disturb  the  peace  and  to  bring  about  dis- 
order. There  was  in  him  the  spirit  of  prayer,  and  all  those 
who  heard  him  pray  felt  his  nearness  to  God.  Conjoined  to 
all  these  noble  qualities  was  a  purity  of  life  which  even  his 
bitterest  enemies  never  could  successfully  assail.  We  add 
that  most  malicious  attacks  against  his  character  were  made 
during  his  earlier  years  in  America,  but  ended  in  the  discom- 
fiture of  those  who  hated  him  because  they  hated  the  truth 
which  he  preached. 

Dr.  Kunze,  who  does  not  forget  to  allude  to  Miihlenberg's 
conservative  position  as  a  Lutheran — which,  though  not  ag- 
gressive or  polemical,  distinguishes  him  from  the  succeed- 
ing generation — arrives  at  the  proper  conclusion,  that  all 
this  mental  framework  eminently  qualified  Muhlenberg  for 
the  great  mission  of  his  life.  He  says  all  the  supervision  of 
an  exclusive  diocese  which  an  ecclesiastical  dignitary  of  high 
standing  in  Europe  might  exercise  would  never  amount  to 
the  work  which  Muhlenberg  had  to  perform  here,  and  which, 
indeed,  entitled  him  to  the  name  of  a  father  of  the  Lutheran 
Church  in  America.  He  never  ceased  to  labor  in  the  Lord's 

34 


53O  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

vineyard,  being  indefatigable  in  preaching — and  this  in  a  most 
attractive  manner — in  teaching  the  young,  in  watching  over 
the  soundness  of  doctrine,  in  his  willingness  to  suffer  most 
distressing  losses  and  to  bear  the  cross  which  God  in  various 
ways  had  laid  upon  him.  Kunze  also  speaks  of  the  wisdom 
the  venerable  father  had  ever  exhibited  concerning  the  polit- 
ical disturbances  and  parties  of  his  time,  and  says  that  he 
never  allowed  any  except  his  most  intimate  friends  to  know 
his  views  on  political  subjects. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  on  that  solemn  occasion  Dr. 
Kunze  spoke  out  of  the  fulness  of  his  heart.  He  was  per- 
fectly qualified  to  appreciate  the  intellect  and  the  heart,  the 
life-work  and  the  character,  of  one  with  whom  he  had  been 
connected  in  so  intimate  a  relation.  And  he  has  not  said  one 
word  too  much.  Muhlenberg  was  indeed  a  man  of  uncom- 
mon mind,  character,  and  work.  Our  readers  will  judge  for 
themselves.  In  accompanying  him  through  the  course  of  his 
life  we  cannot  but  receive  the  impression  that  we  have  before 
us  a  man  of  unusual  gifts,  and  that  by  them  he  was  eminently 
fitted  for  an  extraordinary  work,  the  great  practical  task,  the 
mission  of  his  life,  which  Providence  had  entrusted  to  him. 
Among  the  people  he  had  grown  up.  A  man  of  the  people, 
a  popular  man  in  the  very  best  sense  of  the  term,  he  was ; 
and  this  he  had  to  be  amid  the  crude  material  which  he  was 
obliged  to  mould.  But,  popular  as  he  was,  there  was  no  one 
who  in  his  presence  did  not  feel  that,  like  Saul,  though  in  a 
different  sense,  Muhlenberg  "  from  his  shoulders  and  upward 
was  higher  than  any  of  the  people"  (i  Sam.  ix.  2).  About 
him  there  was  a  dignity  which  could  not  but  most  favorably 
impress  even  those  who,  as  to  social  or  official  position,  were 
far  above  him,  but  in  all  essentials  found  him  their  equal,  and 
in  many  and  weighty  matters  better  than  themselves. 

One  of  the  peculiar  talents  of  Muhlenberg  was  his  organ- 
izing faculty.  He  believed  in  proper  order  as  the  conditio 
sine  qua  non  of  all  human  relations,  and  especially  in  all 
spheres  of  public  duty.  In  most  places  in  the  American  prov- 
inces he  found  the  Lutherans  in  a  deplorable  state  of  con- 


HENR  Y  MEL  CHI  OR  MUHLENBER  G.  531 

fusion,  but  he  properly  organized  them  into  congregations, 
and  as  far  as  was  in  his  power  gave  them  a  solid  doctrinal 
and  constitutional  basis ;  and  in  this  way  he  secured  for  them 
a  healthful  progress.  He  knew  that  in  every  congregation 
various  forces  and  interests  can  easily  come  into  conflict,  but 
he  strove  to  balance  the  diverse  elements  and  to  give  their 
respective  dues  to  the  conservative  and  the  progressive  de- 
mands, at  the  same  time  most  firmly  guarding  against  changes 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Church.  If  in  subsequent  times  neo- 
logical  and  extraneous  influences  began  to  alter  that  basis 
and  to  undermine  the  unity  of  the  Lutheran  Church  in  this 
country,  no  one  could  justly  claim  H.  M.  Muhlenberg  as 
an  advocate  of  new  and  extravagant  measures  in  matters 
of  doctrine  and  practice.  A  proof  of  his  clear  understand- 
ing of  the  value  of  social  order  is  seen  also  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  first  Lutheran  synod  on  this  continent,  and  in  the 
order  of  service  adopted  in  behalf  of  the  congregations  even 
before  the  synod  was  organized. 

That  sense  of  order  which  in  all  relations  guided  Muhlen- 
berg is  observable  also  in  his  private  life.  To  this  his  diaries, 
regularly  kept  until  the  end  of  his  days,  testify,  and  especially 
the  long  columns  of  accounts  referring  to  the  finances  of  his 
congregations,  to  the  various  trusts  under  his  hand,  or  to  his 
own  family.  Everything  is  found  in  its  proper  place,  and  at 
any  time  could  he  give  a  good  account  of  his  stewardship 
even  in  minute  detail.  He  was  no  lawyer,  but  the  legal  forms 
needed  for  documents  referring  to  the  rights  and  the  obliga- 
tions of  congregations,  and  of  individuals  necessarily  con- 
nected with  them,  he  had  learned  through  experience,  and 
knew  how  to  make  good  use  of  them  in  his  pastoral  rela- 
tions. 

It  deserves  to  be  mentioned  that  Muhlenberg's  German 
style  was  eminently  plain,  perspicuous,  and  vigorous.  He 
was  a  contemporary  of  Count  Zinzendorf,  the  difference  of 
their  age  amounting  to  no  more  than  eleven  years.  Both 
these  men — who  during  their  life-work  met  and  came  into 
conflict  on  the  same  field  of  labor — give  opportunity  for 


532  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF 

interesting  comparison.  In  respect  to  German  style  the 
preference  is  most  decidedly  on  the  side  of  Miihlenberg. 
His  German  is  remarkably  pure  and  easy-flowing,  while 
Zinzendorf's  prose  teems  with  expressions  borrowed  from 
the  French,  and  proves  that  he  accommodated  himself  to 
the  abominable  practice  of  a  perverse  taste  prevailing  in 
German  literature  in  the  times  following  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  and  antecedent  to  Klopstock,  Gellert,  Lessing,  Schiller, 
and  Goethe.  Muhlenberg's  style  reflects  the  sound  natural- 
ness of  his  whole  being,  the  clearness  of  his  whole  mind,  the 
strength  of  his  common  sense,  and  the  manliness  of  his  per- 
sonality. And  in  this  connection  even  his  handwriting  dare 
not  be  left  out  of  sight.  It  is  characteristic  of  the  man. 
His  firmness  and, the  decisive  manner  of  his  demeanor  were 
strongly  expressed  in  those  bold  strokes  of  the  pen  in  his 
hand,  and  there  is  not  the  least  difficulty  in  reading  all  the 
extensive  volumes  of  manuscript  left  by  him  as  a  valuable 
historical  legacy  to  future  generations. 

Artistic  representations  of  H.  M.  Muhlenberg's  face  and 
features  which  have  come  down  to  us  undeniably  correspond 
with  his  mental  framework  and  character.  There  is  a  win- 
ning openness  in  the  face;  the  forehead,  remarkably  large, 
seems  to  be  the  field  of  operation  for  an  active,  clear,  compre- 
hensive, but  peaceful  mind ;  a  strong  portion  of  good  common 
sense  looks  out  through  these  eyes  into  the  world ;  while  as  a 
whole  the  face  indicates  much  natural  kindness  and  unaffected 
affability,  not  interfering  with  a  certain  humor  playing  around 
the  mouth  and  a  positive  decision  and  energy  expressed  by  a 
well-developed  nose.  This  face,  beaming  forth  from  a  full  and 
well-fashioned  wig,  bespeaks  a  dignity  becoming  the  official 
character  of  the  man.  It  also  at  once  introduces  us  to  a  per- 
son of  thoroughgoing  intellectual  culture  and  refinement. 

It  is  proper  to  state  that  H.  M.  Muhlenberg's  descendants 
on  the  male  and  female  sides  form  already  such  an  extensive 
circle  that  we  were  compelled  to  give  up  the  attempt  to  fur- 
nish our  readers  with  a  genealogical  tree  rooting  in  the  vener- 
able ancestor  and  rising  up  and  branching  out  in  all  directions 


HENRY  MELCHIOR  MUHLENBERG.  533 

before  and  during  our  times.  We  had  occasion  to  refer  to  a 
number  of  eminent  descendants  on  the  male  side  by  whom 
the  name  of  Miihlenberg  (frequently  Muhlenberg)  seems  to 
be  secured  for  many  generations  to  come.  We  also  men- 
tioned the  Schulzes,  Richardses,  and  Swaines,  descendants 
of  daughters  of  the  reverend  father  in  Pennsylvania  and  be- 
yond it,  branching  out  into  numerous  families.  We  have  yet 
to  allude  to  the  descendants  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Kunze,  whose 
wife  was  a  daughter  of  the  venerable  patriarch  of  the  family 
and  the  Church.  Kunze's  only  son,  a  doctor  of  medicine, 
died  before  his  parents,  but  the  daughters  left  a  large  prog- 
eny socially  occupying  a  high  standing.  One  of  them  mar- 
ried Casper  Meyer,  the  founder  of  the  mercantile  house  of 
Oelrichs  &  Co.  of  New  York.  Gustavus  Schwab,  Esq.,  who 
is  a  son  of  the  German  poet  of  this  name  and  now  the  head 
of  the  above  firm,  is  married  to  a  granddaughter  of  Mr. 
Meyer,  who  is  consequently  a  great-granddaughter  of  Rev. 
Dr.  Kunze.  A  second  daughter  married  a  Mr.  Oakley,  and 
a  third  one  Mr.  Jacob  Lorillard,  dealer  in  leather,  the  founder 
of  the  family  of  that  name  well  known  for  its  commercial 
activity  and  wealth.  But,  extensive  as  is  the  range  of  these 
descendants,  stretching  from  Maryland  to  Massachusetts  and 
toward  the  West  as  far  as  California,  only  a  part  of  them  re- 
tain their  connection  with  the  Church  to  the  service  of  which 
the  venerable  patriarch  had  devoted  his  life. 
f  We  regretted  to  find,  when  some  years  ago  visiting  the 
Orphan- House  at  Halle,  that  Muhlenberg's  name  had  fallen 
into  oblivion.  Even  at  Eimbeck,  his  native  place,  no  monu- 
ment, no  tablet,  recalls  to  citizens  or  strangers  the  name  of 
one  of  her  most  eminent  sons.  Nor  in  America  does  any 
monument  erected  to  the  memory  of  Henry  Melchior  Muhl- 
enberg remind  future  generations  of  the  honor  and  grat- 
itude in  which  he  is  held  in  the  Lutheran  Church  of  this 
country.  His  grave  at  Providence  alongside  of  Augustus 
Church — erected,  like  many  others,  through  his  influence 
and  labors — is  covered  with  a  large  slab  of  white  marble. 
There  rest  his  mortal  remains  and  those  of  the  faithful 


534  LIFE  AND    TIMES   OF  H.   M.   MUHLENBERG. 

partner  of  his  life,  who  after  long,  patiently-endured  suffer- 
ing followed  him  (Aug.  3,  1802)  to  the  mansions  in  the 
Father's  house.  There  is  added  to  his  name  and  the  date 
of  his  birth  and  death  the  inscription,  "  Who  and  what  he 
was  future  times  will  know  without  a  monument  of  stone." 
May  our  book  contribute  its  share  to  verify  that  inscription ! 

"BY   FAITH    HE   BEING    DEAD  YET   SPEAKETH "  (Heb.  xi.  4). 


INDEX. 


A. 

Aberdeenshire,  Aberdeen  University, 
Scotland,  326. 

Acrelius,  Israel,  Rev.  Provost,  142,  243 
sqq.  (his  relation  to  the  united 
German  Lutheran  pastors,  and 
influence  upon  the  Swedish  con- 
gregations);  286,  311  (at  the 
German  Lutheran  Synod  at  New 
Hanover). 

Albany,  N.  Y. ;  254  sq.  (Dutch  Luther- 
ans there);  411. 

Allemaengel,  Pa.,  430. 

Allen,  William.  125,  330,  342,  400. 

Allentown,  Pa.,  430. 

Alsace,  Berks  co.,  Pa.,  149. 

Altenburg,  Germany,  172. 

Amasland  (Kingsessing),  Pa.,  316. 

Amsterdam,  254  sq.  (Lutheran  Consist- 
ory there). 

Ancram,  N.  Y.,  253. 

Andrese,  J.  C,  150,  213,  224,  234,  240, 
257  sq.,  260,  305. 

Anne,  queen  of  England,  61. 

Anniversary  of  the  arrival  of  Brunnholtz, 
J.  N.  Kurtz,  and  Schaum,  241. 

Arens,  B.  A.,  Rev.,  255. 

Armbruster,  A.,  335. 

Armstrong,  J.,  Col.,  220. 

Arndt,  J.,  D.D.,  232  ( True  Christianity}. 

Artern,  Germany,  438. 

Arthur,  Rev.,  259. 

Augsburg,  41,  222,  392;  469  (Confes- 
sion of). 

Augustus  Church  at  New  Providence, 
129;  206  (dedication);  289. 

B. 

Bager,  J.  Geo.,  Rev.,  385  (biogr.). 
Baierle,  Jacob,  303,  305. 
Baltimore,  Md.,  308,  410. 
Bancroft,  Geo.,  historian,  73. 
Barclay,  H.,  Rev.,  269. 
Bard,  Patr.,  Dr.,  125. 


Barren  Hill,  Pa.,  295,   375;    377  sqq. 

(difficulties  there) ;  452. 
Beachy  Head,  46. 
Beaufort,  S.  C.,  65. 
Bechtel,  J.,  Rev.,  114. 
Bedminster,  N.  J.,  240,  312,  315,  382, 

424. 

Beissel,  Conr.,  145. 
Benezet,  J.  S.,  114,  125. 
Bengal,  J.  A.,  D.  D.,  504. 
Berzelius,  Jac.,  archbishop,  243. 
Bergmann,  J.  E.,  Rev.,  514. 
Berkeley,  governor  of  Virginia,  60. 
Berkenmeier,  W.  Chr.,  Rev.,  151,  157 

sq.,  170,  226,  246,  249,  253,  258 

292. 

Bermudian  (Permutschin),  Pa.,  201. 
Bernheim,  G.  D.,  D.  D.,  461. 
Bernville,  see  Northkill.  —  -— 

Bethesda,  near  Savannah,  Ga.,  67. 
Bethlehem,    Pa.,   no,    in,   116,    189, 

245 ;  246  sq.  (Miihlenberg's  visit 

there). 

Bethany,  Ga.,  470. 
Bible,  first  edition  in  German  and  in 

English  in  America,  43. 
Birkensee  (Perkasie),  Pa.,  200,  240. 
Blue  Mountains,  204. 
Boehler,  Pet.,  Rev.,  116. 
Boehm,  J.  Phil.,  Rev.,  1 13, 115, 142,  293. 
Boehme,  A.  W.,  Rev.,  37,  144,  226. 

Martin,  522. 
Boetticher,  Rev.,  29. 
Bogatzky,  Von,  172. 
Bohemian  Protestants,  20  sq. 
Bolen,  Conrad,  2. 
Boltzius,  J.  M.,  Rev.,  40,  41,  62,  65,  71, 

74,  77,  sq.,  80  sq.,  140,  267. 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  325  (German 

translation). 

Borell,  Andr.,  Rev.,  345,  372,  385. 
Borries,  of  Eimbeck,  n. 
Bottler's  Mill,  Pa.,  320. 
Brandt,  Phil.,  95  sq. 

535 


536 


INDEX. 


Braun,  Baron  von,  21. 

Brunnholtz,  P.,  Rev.,  158  (arrival);  159 
(early  career) ;  161  (serves  at  Phil- 
adelphia and  Germantown) ;  164, 
I77>  198  (sick  at  Providence); 
206,  213  (serves  as  secretary  at 
the  first  synodical  meeting) ;  222 
(again  sick)  ;  223  ( Muhlenberg' s 
^pinion  of  him) ;  227,  233  sq. 
(kindness  to  strangers) ;  241  (an- 
niversary of  his  arrival) ;  244 
(meets  Acrelius) ;  263,  300,  332 
sq.,  353,  354  (about  officers  of  the 
congregation);  355  (his  death). 

Brycelius,  P.  D.,  Rev.,  179. 

Budden,  Captain,  400. 

Bugnion,  Jos.,  Rev.,  80. 

Bunyan's  Pilgrim'1  s  Progress,  232. 

Burgmann,  Chr.,  Rev.,  381. 

Burgsdorf,  Von,  20,  23. 

Burkhardt,  J.  G.,  D.  D.,  513. 

Buskirk,  Jac.  van,  Rev. ;  321  sq.  (biogr.)  ; 

350,  375>  383,  43°,  524. 
Lawr.  van,  270,  276,  288. 
Butjender,  H.  A.,  Rev.,  38,  41. 
Biittner,  G.,  Rev.,  146  sq. 

C. 

Cammerhof,  J.  C.  Fr.,  bishop,  181,  186, 
246. 

Camp-on-the-Hudson,  199,  250,  256 
(West  Camp). 

Candler,  Dav.,  Rev.,  188,  194,  385. 

Canstein,  Von,  15,  518  (Canstein  Bible 
Society). 

Carlisle,  Pa.,  385. 

Casant,  town,  41. 

Catechists,  159;  185  (their  duties  and 
rights). 

Catechization  with  young  and  old,  289. 

Cellarius,  Councillor,  14. 

Chandler,  Saml.,  D.  D.,  330. 

Chandler,  Th.  Bradbury,  D.  D.,  347. 

Charity  schools  in  Pennsylvania,  326 
sqq. ;  334  sq.  (where  located) ; 
335  (German  periodical  connect- 
ed with  the  school  plan) ;  355. 

Charles  V.,  4. 

Charleston,    S.   C.,   61,   79  sqq.,   455, 

459  sqq- 

Child,  Captain,  101. 
Christ  Church  at  Philadelphia,  in,  125. 
at  Tulpehoken,  Pa.,  146  sq.,  149, 
179,  1 86;   206   (church  dedica- 
tion). 

at  New  York,  308,  382,  386. 
Christina  (Wilmington),  Delaware,  105, 
107,  243,351. 


Christian  Ernest  of  Saxony- Salfeld,  172. 

Churchtown,  N.  Y.,  257. 

Codorus  Creek,  Pa.,  188. 

Cohansey,  N.  J.,  1 60,  205,  351,  382,  387. 

Colchester,  town,  36. 

Collin,  Nic.,  Rev.,  451  sq. 

Conestoga,  Pa.,  144,  383. 

Conewago,  Pa.,  190,  196,  201,  385. 

Conferences  held  by  Zinzendorf  in  Penn- 
sylvania, 81,  in,  145;  475  (Lu- 
therans at  New  York). 

Confessions,  see  Symbolical  Books. 

Confirmation,  395. 

Constitution  of  the  Philadelphia  German 
Lutheran  congregation ;  353  sqq. 
(its  history  'up  to  the  times  of 
Muhlenberg) ;  365,  369  (framing 
of  a  new  constitution). 

Contributions  from  Europe,  140,  301, 
3.05,  379*  38o. 

Conventicles,  398. 

Cook,  the  Spanish,  44,  55  sqq. 

Cressap  War,  216. 

Crusius,  Chr.  A.,  D.  D.,  503. 

Currie,  W.,  Rev.,  483. 

D. 

Darmstadt,  Germany,  241. 

Daser,  Fred.,  Rev.,  459  sqq. 

Delegates  to  synod,  212  sqq. 

Denny,  W.,  Gov.,  220. 

De  Ronda,  Rev.,  270. 

Deventer,  town,  34. 

Deyling,  D.  D.,  18. 

Diel,  Geo.,  492. 

Dieren,  J.  B.  van,  226,  256,  259. 

Dohna,  Von,  12. 

Dover,  45. 

Driesler,  J.  U.,  Rev.,  68,  81. 

Du  Bois,  Rev.,  270. 

Duche,  Jacob,  D.  D.,  344. 

Dulany,  Dan.,  309. 

Dunkers,  218,  237. 

Dutch  Lutherans  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  6l. 

on  the  Raritan  River,  N.  J.,  151. 

on  the  Hudson,  151. 

at  New  York,  151,  249,  256,  261  sq. 
(letter  to  H.  M.  Muhlenberg; 
his  answer) ;  263  (a  call  given 
him);  451. 

at  Hackensack,  N.  J.,  151. 
Dutchmen  of  the  Schoharie  Valley,  167  sq. 
Dylander,  J.,  Rev.,  101,  112,  142,  175, 

353- 

E. 

Earltown  (New  Holland),  Pa.,  149, 174; 
183  (organization  of  a  Lutheran 


INDEX. 


537 


congregation);     188,    351    (resi- 
dence of  J.  C.  Stoever,  Jr.). 
J  Easton,  Pa.,  160;  200  (visited  by  H.  M. 

Miihlenberg) ;  240,  309,  430. 
Ebenezer,  Ga.,  40,  41 ;  70  sq.  (begin- 
nings) ;  75,  3°7>  444  sqq.  (diffi- 
culties there). 
Egle,W.H.,  Dr.,  1 73. 
Eimbeck,  town : 

locality  and  history,  I,  2. 

relation  to  Lutheranism,  2. 

schools,  5,  6. 

members  of  council,  7. 

orthodox  zealots,  30  sqq. 

family  of  Miihlenberg,  3  sqq.,  284, 

400. 

Elders,  214  (delegates  to  synod). 
Elizabeth,  queen  of  England,  275. 
Elizabeth  Furnace,  Pa.,  383. 
Endress,  Chr.  Fr.  L.,  D.  D.,  417. 
Eneberg,  John,  Rev.,  350. 
Engelland,  J.  Th.,  307,  334. 
English  versus  German,  418  sq.,  514. 
English  Baptists  in  Pennsylvania;  320 
(H.  M.  Muhlenberg  preaches  to 
them). 

•Ephrata,  Pa.,  in,  145,  180,  217,  245. 
Episcopal  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  268. 
Erich,  duke  of  Brunswick,  2. 
Erlangen,  University  of,  228. 
Eschenbach,  Andrew,  144. 
Evangelical  Magazine,  418. 

F. 

Fabricius,  Jac.,  Rev.,  255,  350. 
Seb.  Andr.,  518. 
J.  Phil.,  Rev.,  518. 

Falk,  Gabr.,  Rev.,  179. 
•Falkner,  Justus,  Rev.,  151,  252. 

Falkner  Swamp,  see  New  Hanover. 

"Fathers"  in  Europe,  170,  171,  179, 
203  ;  206  (relation  of  the  German 
Lutheran  Church  in  -  Pennsyl- 
vania to  them) ;  223,  239,  262, 
285,  303,  352,  381, 388,  399,  491. 

Feilestown,  N.  Y.,  411. 

Fellingsbro,  Sweden,  245. 

Firmian,  L.  A.,  bishop,  41. 

Fisher,  Sebast,  147. 

Fieri,  John,  468. 

Fliigge,  Rev.,  32. 

Hushing,  N.  Y.,  258,  279. 

Forks  (Easton),  240. 

"  Formula  of  Concord,"  2,  17,  32. 

Fort  Duquesne  in  Pennsylvania,  21 8  sq. 

Fosseberg,  N.  J.,  205. 

Francke,  H.  A.,  D.  D.,  8,  14,  41,  273. 
G.  A.,  D.  D.,  14,  21,  40,  119,  145, 


171,  209,  241,  287,  352;  381  (his 

death);  494. 
Francke,  Mrs.  Henr,  21. 
Frank,  J.,  Rev.,  238,  487. 
Frankfort-on-the-Main,  224. 
Franklin,    Benj.,   92,    326,    330,    333, 

335- 

Frederica,  Ga.,  68,  82. 
Frederick  I.,  king  of  Prussia,  9. 
IV.  of  Denmark,  16. 
the  Great,  320. 
Frederick,  Md.,  188,  191,  194  sq.,  308, 

411. 
French  (Huguenots)  at  Charleston,  S.  C., 

82. 

the;  217  (their  encroachments). 
Fresenius,  J.  Ph.,  D.  D.,  241,  284. 
Frey,  John,  496. 
Freylinghausen,  G.  A.,  D.  D.,  381,  475, 

49?,  518. 

Friderici,  J.  A.,  catechist,  229,  430. 
Friederichs,  J.  G.,  Rev.,  82,  464. 

G. 

Gaensel,  Matthias,  305. 
General  Council,  500. 
Gensau,  Hartmann  von,  159. 
George  I.  of  England,  I. 

II.  of  England,  40,  65. 
Georgia,  40. 

German  Benevolent  Society  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, 403 ;  of  Charleston,  S.  C., 
463,  484  sq. 

immigration  into  Pennsylvania,  217, 

327,  403- 
Lutheran    congregations;    359    sq.  . 

(their  diverse  elements). 
Reformed,  the,  94,  133,  142,  292, 

353,  404. 

Germann,  W.,  D.  D.,  394,  423. 

Germanjown,  91,  100,  112,  115,  142, 
150, 191 ;  206  (church  enlarged) ; 
257  scl->  3°°  sciq-  (Handschuh 
pastor) ;  302  sqq.  (rebellion)  ;  308 
(reunited  with  synod) ;  350,  353, 

375,  376,  393,  452. 
Gerock,  J.  S.,  Rev.,  235 ;  307  sq.  (biogr.) ;  - 

310  (at  Lancaster  visited  by  H. 

M.  Miihlenberg);  373  (visits New 

York ;  is  called  there) ;  382,410. 
Gerresheim,  Fr.,  Rev.,  514. 
Gersdorf,  Baron  von,  21  sq. 

Baroness  von,  17,  19,  1 1 6,  122. 
Gestricia,  Sweden,  174. 
Gichtelians,  the,  94. 
GlanhcnslieJ,  by  Ziegenhagen,  2OI. 
Goeking,  G.  G.  G. ;  503  (history  of  the 

Salzburg  emigration). 


538 


INDEX. 


Goeranson,  Andr.,  Rev. ;  421  sqq.,  448 

451. 

Goering,  Jac.,  Rev.,  412. 

Gottingen,  University  of,  7  sqq.;  stu- 
dents' life  there,  8. 

Goetwater,  J.  E.,  Rev.,  254. 

Goetz,  Mrs.  Dr.,  27. 

Goshen,  Ga.,  470. 

Goshenhoppen  (Old),  Pa.,  133,  149, 
150;  286  (New);  329  (Roman 
Catholic  chapel). 

Graaf,  Will.,  Rev.,  316  sq.,  321;  322 
(biogr.) ;  448,  45 2,  486. 

Graba,  in  Saxony-Meiningen,  172. 

Gradin,  Aroin,  175. 

Gravesend,  town,  41,  44. 

Groessmann,  J.  N.,  140. 

Gronau,  I.  Chr.,  Rev.,  41, 62,  65,  69,  71, 
77,  470. 

Grosshennersdorf,  16,  18  sq.,  35,  98,  116, 

122. 

Grotz,  Ph.  J.,  Rev.,  450,  453  sq.  (Mtihl- 

enberg  addresses  him). 
Gwynedd,  Pa.,  322. 

H. 

Hackensack,  N.  J.,  227,  255  sq.,  271 
sqq.,  288  sqq.,  317  sq. 

Hahnbaum,  J.  T.,  Rev.,  461. 

Halberstadt,  Germany,  353. 

Halifax,  Nova  Scotia;  325  (German  con- 
gregation). 

Halle,  town,  8,  12,  276. 

centre  of  Pietism,  15,  28. 
University  of,  224,  286,  385,  407. 

Hallenses,  122,  170,  246,  298,  304,346, 
378,  410,  413. 

Halle  Reports,  131  sq.,  150,  239,  284, 
344,  346,  371,  402,  457,  518. 

Hanau,  Germany,  224. 

Handschuh,  J.  Fr.,  Rev.;  171  sq.  (early 
years);  173,  178  (arrival  in 
America) ;  call  to  Lancaster, 
Pa.) ;  184  (serves  Lancaster  and 
Earltown);  200,  212  (dedication 
sermon  at  Philadelphia) ;  241, 
263 sq.;  299  sqq.  (marriage;  re- 
moval to  Germantown;  335  (at 
Philadelphia) ;  355  (his  engage- 
ments there ;  elected  pastor) ; 
356  sqq.  (his  labors  and  difficul- 
ties) ;  386,  401  (his  death). 
'Hanover  (McAllistertown),  Pa.,  188. 

Hartel,  C.  R.,  Captain,  268,  283. 

Hartwig,  J.  C.,  Rev. ;  199  (visits  Mtthl- 
enberg  at  Providence) ;  205,  206, 
212;  246  sqq.  (his  field  of  labor 
on  the  Hudson ;  difficulties) ;  248 


sqq.  (Muhlenberg's  visit) ;  258, 
259;  263  (temporarily  in  Penn- 
sylvania) ;  266  sq.,  292,  296,  350 ; 
403  sq.  (his  preaching  in  the  Ger- 
man .  Reformed  church  at  Phil- 
adelphia) ;  449. 

Hattorf,  Frau  von,  31. 

Hausihl  (Hauseal)  B.  M.,  Rev.;  195 
(at  Monocacy) ;  308  (addresses  H. 
M.  Mtihlenberg) ;  309  (biogr.) ; 

3I2»  383»  387,404,  45 I- 
Hebron  Church,  Va.,  238,  486  sq. 
Hedstrand,  Rev.,  174. 
Hegeblad,  Rev.,  345. 
Heidelberg,  near  Reading,  149,  221,  323, 

384- 

Heilbronn,  Wiirtemberg,  266,  309. 

Heintzelmann,  S.  P.,  U.  S.  A.,  148. 
J.  D.  M.,  Rev.,  285  sq. ;  355   (his 

death). 
Israel,  286,  465. 

Helen's,  St.  (Isle  of  Wight),  46. 

Henkel,  Gerhard,  Rev.,  238,  350. 
Paul,  Rev.,  238,  487. 

Henkel,  Von,  12,  23,  26. 

Helmstedt,  Germany,  292. 

Helmuth,  J.  H.  Chr.,  D.  D. ;  375  sq. 
(biogr.);  415  sqq.,  417  (at  Lan- 
caster and  Philadelphia);  418  (as 
a  preacher) ;  435,  440  (called  to 
Philadelphia);  450,  517,  524; 
525  sq.  (memorial  sermon  after 
H.  M.  Miihlenberg's  death). 

Hering,  Mr.,  of  Rotterdam,  34  sq. 

Herrnhut,  17,  116,  121. 

Hess,  J.  Jac.,  Rev.,  503. 

Hesse-Darmstadt,  301. 

Hesselius,  Rev.,  244. 

History  of  New  Sweden,  245. 

Hobson,  F.  G. ;  202  (Providence  Inde- 
pendent}; 493,  521  sq. 

Hockheimer,  E.,  Rev.,  460. 

Hofgut,  J.  L.,  256. 

Hollanders,  Lutheran;  227  .(in  New 
York);  230  (in  Curacao). 

Hopkins,  Mrs.,  and  her  child  baptized, 
204. 

Horkheim,  Wiirtemberg,  148. 

Hornbach,  Germany,  150. 

Home,*  Van,  Rev.,  404. 

Hunter,  Governor,  1 66  sq. 

Button,  James,  124. 

I. 

[Isenburg,  town,  29. 
[ndianfield,  Pa.,  149,  240,  286. 
[ndians  in  Georgia,  66,  72. 
in  South  Carolina,  62,  79. 


INDEX. 


539 


tndians  in  Pennsylvania,  90,  145,  167, 

217  sqq.,  336. 

in  New  York  (Mohawk),  167. 
in  Canada,  246. 
missions  among  them,  66,  67,  no, 

199,  425. 
give  H.  M.  Muhlenberg  a  peculiar 

name,  198. 
Inspired,  the,  94. 

In-the- Valley,"  N.  J.,  312,  382. 
Isenburg,  Von,  1 1. 

J- 

Jacobi,  Chr.,  377. 

James,  St.,  chapel  in  London,  37. 

Jena,  University  of,  12. 

Jenney,  Rob.,  Rev.,  108. 

Jerusalem  Church  at  Ebenezer,  Ga.,  467 

sqq.,  470,  476. 
Jones,  Rev.,  65. 

Jung  (Young),  J.  G.,  Rev.,  383,  430. 
Junker,  Prof.,  M,  D.,  13. 

K. 

Kalm,  Pet.,  Prof.,  216  sq. 

Kalteisen,  Mr.,  460. 

Keppele,  H.,  elder,  233, 286;  368  (treas- 
urer of  the  Philadelphia  German 
Lutheran     congregation) ;     378, 
397,  400. 
Henry,  Jr.,  400. 

Kiderlin,  G.  M.,  74. 

Kimbel,  Jas.,  459. 

Kingsessing,  near  Philadelphia,  380. 

Kingston,  N.  Y.,  248,  254. 

Kirckenbuch,  500,  522. 
,  Kittanning,  Pa.,  220. 

Klosterbergen,  Germany,  1 7,  439. 

Klug,  G.  S.,  Rev.,  236  sq.,  486. 

Knapp,  J.  Geo.,  D.  D.,  381,  430,  439. 

Knoll,  M.  Chr.,  Rev.,   151  sqq.,    157, 
249,  256,  271. 

Kocher,  J.  G.,  73. 

Kocherthal,  Josh.,  Rev.,  255. 

Kock,  Peter,  100,  101,  105,  106,  123, 

«75- 

Koestritz,  town,  12,  21,  26. 
Konigsberg,  Germany,  286. 
Kraeuter,  Ph.  D.,  D.  D.,  249,  251. 
Kraft,  J.  V.,  Rev.,  95,  96,  97  sqq.,  IO2, 
109, 115,  126,  127,  146,  174,  183 
sq.,  194;  309  (his  death);  352. 
Kreuz  Creek,  Pa.,  187,  "188. 
Krug,  J.  A.,  Rev.;    409  sqq.  (biogr.) ; 

428  (his  visit  to  Virginia)  ;  450. 
Kuhn,  Dan.,  423. 

J-  355- 
Kunze,  J.  Chr.,  D.  D.,  10,  288,  308  (pas- 


tor at  Philadelphia) ;  408,  430 
(arrival  from  Europe) ;  438  sqq. 
(biogr.);  440  (called  to  New 
York);  441  sq.  (his  literary  ac- 
tivity); 446,  480,  497,  517,  526 
sqq.  (memorial  sermon  after  H. 
M.  Miihlenberg's  death). 
Kurtz,  J.  N.,  Rev.,  158  (arrival);  159, 
170  (visits  the  Raritan  congre- 
gations); 1 78  (labors  as  catechist 
at  Tulpehoken,  Northkill,  and 
Lancaster);  185,  197  sq.,  200, 
20 1  (his  marriage) ;  204  (visits 
again  the  Raritan  congregations) ; 
206  sqq.  (his  examination,  ordi- 
nation, etc.) ;  21 1,  241,  263  (pas- 
tor at  Tulpehoken) ;  300,  323, 
348,  367  (on  a  tour  of  church- 
visitation  with  Wrangel);  374  sq. 
(serves  temporarily  at  German- 
town) ;  408  (called  to  York); 
487. 

J.  D.,  Rev.,  308. 

W.,  Rev.,  314,315;  374  (biogr.); 
387,  510  sq.  (letter  of  H.  M. 
Muhlenberg). 

L. 

Lancaster,  Pa.;  142,  165,  173  sq. 
(county  and  city)  ;  1 74  sqq.  (Ny- 
berg's  agitation) ;  176  sq.  (Muhl- 
enberg's influence) ;  178  (Mora- 
vian church  erected) ;  1 78  (Kurtz 
labors  as  catechist) ;  181  sqq. 
(Handschuh  accepted  as  pastor) ; 
1 86  (condition  of  the  congrega- 
tion); 197  sq.,  241,  300,  404 
(church  dedication). 

Langendorf,  town,  26. 

Langenfeld,  Rev.,  170. 

Langerfeld,  J.  A.,  112,  353. 

Langhorn,  Jerem.,  340. 

Lawrence,  Th.,  125. 

Lebanon  (see  Quitopahilla),  Pa.,  385. 

Lederer,  J.,  explorer  of  both  Carolinas, 
60  sq. 

Lehmann,  Dan.,  Rev.,  524. 

Leipsic,  17,  439. 

Lembke,  H.  H.,  Rev.,  71,  470. 

Leps,  J.  Chr.,  Rev.,  440. 

Lesly's  Land,  N.  J.,  205. 

Leutbecker,  Casp.,  144. 

Liberda,  Rev.,  20. 

Lidenius,  J.  A.,  Rev.,  316. 

Lidman,  J.,  Rev.,  351. 

Lindner,  D.  D.,  172. 

Lischy,  Jac.,  Rev.,  186,  188  sq. 

Liturgy;    184  sq.   (framed  by  Muhlen- 


540 


INDEX. 


berg,    Handschuh,   and    Brunn- 

holtz);  392,  500. 
Livingston  family,  250. 
Lochman,  J.  G.,  I).  D.,  417. 
Loeser,  J.  J.,  160,  171,  185  sqq.;  200 

(called  to  Lancaster) ;  201   (his 

marriage), 
feogan,  James,  125. 
London,  36  sqq.,  276. 
Loonenburg  (Athens),  N.  Y.,  253,  255, 

259,  453- 

Lorillarcl,  Jacob,  533. 
Losonz,  Ref.  school  in  Hungary,  233. 
Lower  Dublin,  Pa.,  307. 
Liibeck,  Germany,  422. 
Liineburg,  Germany,  228. 
Lunenburg,  Nova  Scotia,  287,  325  sq. 
Ludwig,  Christopher,  485. 
Luft,  Rev.,  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  82. 
—  Luther,  Martin,  2;  201  ("Small  Cate- 
chism"), 281,  289,  319. 
—    Lutheran  and  Episcopal  churches,  391. 
—-Lutheran  Dutch  congregation;   151  sqq. 
(at  New  York  and  on  the  Upper 
Hudson). 

•— —  Lutheran  German  congregation  at  Phila- 
delphia, 101,  107;  151  (on  the 
Raritan). 

Lutheran  Swedish  congregation  at  Phil- 
adelphia, 101,  365,  452. 
« —  Lutherans  in  South  Carolina,  460  sqq. 
at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  62. 
at  Savannah,  Ga.,  69  sq. 
at  Freclerica,  Ga.,  71. 
at  Ebenezer,  Ga.,  66  sqq. 
in  Pennsylvania,  94. 
at  Philadelphia,  95,  101,  1 12,  350 

sqq. 

in  New  Jersey,  150  sqq.,  165,  382. 
in  the  Mohawk  Valley,  171,  454. 
at  New  York,  227,  254  sqq.,  308. 
in  Virginia,  236  sqq. 
at  Hackensack,  N.  J.,  272  sqq. 
at  Baltimore,  Md.,  308. 
in  Maryland,  310, 

M. 

McAllistertown,  see  Hanover. 
Macclenachan,  Will.,  Rev.,  341,  385. 
Macungie,  Pa.,  200,  258,  311,  430. 
Maertens  (Martini),  C.  F.,  surgeon,  310, 

366. 

Magaw,  Saml.,  D.  D.,  333. 
Magens,  J.  M.,  258,  261,  279. 
Malander,  J.,  142. 

Manathanim  (Manatawney),  Pa.,  316. 
Manchester,  Pa.,  238. 
T-  Mannheim,  Pa.,  384. 


Mansfeld,  Germany,  413. 
Marburg  hymnbook,  288. 
Marienburg  in  Transylvania,  232. 
Marsteller,.Fred.,  106,  241,  304. 
Martin,  J.  N.,  Rev.,  459. 

Colonel,  326. 
Maryland ;  309  sq.  (union  of  Church  and 

State). 
Mary's,  St.,  Church  in  Savoy,  London, 

39- 

Matetscha,  Pa.,  144. 
Matthison,  Mr.,  39,41. 
Maul,  Barthol.,  189,  196. 
Mayer,  Ph.  Fred.,  D.  D.,  419. 

S.  M.,  309. 
McClellan,  Capt.,  42. 
Melsheimer,  F.  V.,  Rev.,  412. 
Mennonites,  94,  218,  397. 
Mentzer,  Balsh.,  D.  D.,  25. 
Methodism,  67,  72,  290  sq.  (disturbances 

occasioned  by  it) ;  341,  501  sq. 
Meurer,  J.  Ph.,  Rev.,  146  sq. 
Meyer,  Caspar,  533. 

Justus  Fred.,  400. 

Michaelis,  J.  D.,  D.  D.,  36,  38,  366,  504. 

Michael's,  St.,  Church  (at  Philadelphia), 

134,   206;  211  sq.  (dedication); 

214,  266 (organ  dedicated);  293, 

345.  389>  401  sqq.,  424,  489. 

Church     (at    Germantown),    142, 

246;  301  (enlargement);  452. 
Millen,  Stephan,  465. 
Ministerium,  German  Lutheran,  see  Syn- 
od. 

Moeller,  H.,  Rev.,  450,  456,  486  sq. 
Mohawk  Indians,  167. 
Molatton,  Pa.,  179,  204,  239,  316. 
Monocacy,  river  and  locality  in  Mary- 
land, 1 88  sq.,  191,  194. 
Moravians  in  Georgia,  66,  116. 

in  Pennsylvania,  nosq.,  141,  146, 
157,   165,   175  sq.,  180  sq.,  189, 
191, 193,200;  195  (Miihlenberg's 
opinion  of  them);  213,  218,  243, 
247,  324,  328,  397. 
Morris,  Gov.,  219,  328. 
Mosellem,  Pa.,  149,  307. 
Moser,  J.  Jac.,  504. 
Mosheim,  J.  L.,  D.  D.,  503. 
Mountain  church,  N.  J.,  205. 
Miihlberg,  town,  4. 
Muhlenberg,  H.  M.,  D.  D. : 
Birth,  I. 

Parents  and  other  relatives,  3. 
Ancestry,  4. 
School  years,  4  sqq. 
Death  of  his  father,  6. 
Progress  in  linguistics  and  music,  6. 


INDEX. 


541 


Muhlenberg  at  Zellerfeld,  7. 

At  Gottingen,  7  sqq. 
_  Influences  of  friendship,  8. 
Private  secretary  to  Prof.  Dr.  Opo- 
rin,  9  sq. 

-  In  polite  circles,  10. 

Engaged    in   charity-school   work, 

IO  sq. 

-    Preaches  and  catechises,  II. 
Leaves  Gottingen,  12. 
At   the    Orphan-House    at   Halle, 
12  sq. 

~  Acquires  knowledge  of  the  medical 

art,  13. 

Intended  as  a  missionary  for  East 

India,  14,  15. 

Call  to  Grosshennersdorf,  1 6. 
Examination  and  ordination,  17  sq. 
~    Duties  and  labors  at  Grosshenners- 
dorf, iQsq.,  35. 
~— . ,  Call  to  the  dispersed  Lutherans  in 

Pennsylvania,  21. 
—-.  Publication  in  defence  of  Pietism, 

24  sqq. 
Departure  from  Grosshennersdorf, 

26. 

Arrival  at  Halle,  27. 
Departure  from  Halle,  28. 
— *  Experiences  at  Eimbeck,  30  sqq. 
Travel  through  Holland  to  London, 

32  sqq. 

Sojourning  at  London,  36  sqq. 
Intercourse  with  Dr.  Ziegenhagen, 

39- 

-  Call  to  the  three  united  congrega- 

tions in  Pennsylvania,  39. 
Request  to  visit  Ebenezer,  Ga.,  40. 
Voyage  across  the  Atlantic,  43  sqq. 
Fellow-passengers,  44  sqq. 
Want  of  drinkable  water,  48  sq. 
Arrival  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  49,  60. 
Sufferings  by  sea-sickness,  49  sq.     ' 
Influence  upon  the  passengers,  50 

sqq. 

Religious  services,  5  2  sqq. 
Conversation  with  the  Spanish  cook, 

55  sqq. 

-  Meeting  negro  slaves,  62  sq.,  289  sq. 
Departure  for  Georgia,  63  sqq. 
Incidents  of  the  voyage,  64  sq. 
Sojourn  at  Savannah  and  Ebenezer, 

69  sqq. 

Departure  with  Boltzius  to  Charles- 
ton, 77. 

Waiting  at  Charleston,  79  sqq. 

Embarks  for  Philadelphia,  82. 

Incidents  and  sufferings  during  the 
voyage,  83  sqq. 


Miihlenberg's  arrival  at  Philadelphia,  86. 

Physical  and  mental  fitness,  87  sqq. 
^  First  steps  in  Philadelphia,  94. 

Sets  out  for  New  Hanover  and  New 
Providence,  96. 

Preaches  at  New  Hanover,  98. 

Visits  New  Providence,  99. 

Returns  to  Philadelphia,  99. 

First  sermons  in  Philadelphia, 
101.  * 

Begins  pastoral  work,  104. 

Is  accepted  by  the  three  united  con- 
gregations, 105  sqq. 

Meets  Count  Zinzendorf,  117  sqq. 

Pastoral  work  in  the  three  united 
congregations,  128  sqq.,  138  sqq. 

Teaches  German  and  English,  130 
sq. 

Contributes  to  the  Halle  Reports, 
131  sq. 

Avoids  the  erection  of  so-called 
union  churches,  133,  142. 

His  outward  circumstances,  139  sqq. 

Is  called  to  a  place  west  of  the 
Schuylkill,  141. 

His  services  requested  at  German- 
town,  142  sq. 

His  attention  directed  to  Tulpe- 
hoken,  143. 

His  interest  is  claimed  for  the  Lu- 
therans in  the  Raritan  congrega- 
tions, I5osqq.,  170  sq.,  324. 

His  repeated  visits  there,  1 53  sqq., 
205,  239,  313,  314,  315  sqq., 
320  sq.,  323,  382  sq.,  429  sq. 

Desires  and  receives  colaborers  from 
Halle,  158. 

Takes  charge  of  the  country  con- 
gregations, 161. 

His  acquaintance  with  J.  C.  Weiser, 
Jr.,  and  marriage,  161  sqq.,  431. 

Visits  Lancaster,  Pa.,  165. 

Visited  by  J.  C.  Weiser,  Sr.,  i66sq. 

Brought  into  connection  with  Lan- 
caster, Pa.,  176  sq.,  197. 

Begins  to  preach  at  Molatton,  179, 

239- 
Concerned  about  his  father-in-law, 

1 79  sqq. 
Engaged  in  framing  a  liturgy,  184 

sq. 
On  a  missionary-tour  to  York  and 

Frederick,  Md.,  187,   189  sqq., 

196   sq.;    again,    309   sq. ;    417 

(Lancaster  and  York). 
He  uses  the  Symbolical  Books  of 

the  Lutheran  Church  as  evidences 

of  the  truth,  189,  191,  192. 


542 


INDEX. 


Muhlenberg  uses  discipline  as  to  admis- 
sion to  the  Lord's  Supper,  196  sq. 
^*  Visits  Lutherans  at  Upper  Milford, 
Saccum,  etc.,  199,  200,  204,  239, 
265. 

— «~  Preaches  in  English  and  German  at 
New  Providence  and  Hanover, 
202. 
«•»  Pastoral  cares,  202  sq.,  284,  287, 

296,  318  sq.,  324,  465. 
^Correspondence,  203^284, 339, 341, 

45 3  sq-,  455,  505  sqq.,  514. 

f^r  At  the  first  synodical  meeting,  21 1 

sqq. ;  presiding  officer,  212. 

His  Christian  optimism,  215. 

His  benevolent  interest  in  Wey- 
gand,  Schrenk,  aud  Raus,  224 
sqq.,  227  sq.,  233  sqq. ;  in  W. 
Graaf,  316  sq. 

Visits  Hartwig's  congregations  on 
the  Hudson,  244  sqq. 

Is  interested  in  the  Lutherans  in 
Virginia,  237. 

He  travels  with  J.  C.  Weiser,  Jr., 
to  the  Upper  Hudson,  and  tries 
to  pacify  Hartwig's  congregations, 
246  sqq. 

Visits  New  York;  257  sqq.  (first 
visit) ;  he  preaches  to  the  Dutch 
Lutherans,  meets  Berkenmeier, 
is  called  to  the  old  Dutch  Lu- 
theran church,  261  sqq. ;  266  sq. 
(second  visit) ;  preaches  in  Dutch, 
English,  and  German;  288  sqq. 
(third  visit);  313  (fourth  visit); 
382  (fifth  visit) ;  450  sq.  (sixth 
visit). 

—  His  relation  to  clergymen  of  other 
denominations,  292,  294. 

Growing   extent  of  his   influence, 

296. 

— *His  family,  316,  325,  367,  399; 
400  (departure  of  the  three  sons 
to  Halle). 

Call  to  Nova  Scotia,  325. 
"""*  His  interest  in  the  education  of  the 
youth  of  the  Church,  plan  of  an 
orphan-house,  325  sq.,  381  sq. 
""~*His  relation  to  the  charity  schools 
in  Pennsylvania,  326  sqq. ;  letter 
to  B.  Franklin,  333. 
'    Is  made  a  trustee  of  the  corporation 
for  the    relief    of  Widows   and 
Children  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
336 ;  a  doctor  of  divinity,  496. 

Distinguished  visitors  at  Providence, 
339  sqq.  (Rich.  Peters) ;  342  sqq. 
(Ch.  M.  Wrangel). 


Muhlenberg  moves  to  Philadelphia,  349 
sqq. ;  causes  which  led  to  this 
change,  357  sqq.;  he  acts  as  a 
peace-maker,  368  sqq ;  his  ser- 
vices in  framing  a  new  constitu- 
tion, 369  sqq. 

In  embarrassment  about  St.  Peter's 
at  Barren  Hill,  377  sqq. 

Is  presiding  officer  of  synod,  371 
sq. ;  he  visits  congregations,  382 
sqq. ;  his  frequent  absences  from 
Philadelphia  cause  murmurings, 
386  sq. ;  his  title  Senior,  448. 

His  relation  to  Pietism,  392  sq. ; 

•  to  Neology,  Rationalism,  etc., 
504  sq. 

His  autobiography  (in  part),  394. 

His  diaries,  521,  531.     . — 

On  confirmation,  395. 

On  politics,  396  sqq, ;  483  sq.,  on 
G.  Washington,  485  sq. 

Moves  again  to  Providence,  440, 
490  sqq. 

Second  visit  to  Ebenezer,  Ga.,  443 
sqq->  457  sqq. ;  record  of  it,  457 
sqq. 

Malignant  reports  about  him,  481 
sqq. 

Retires  from  pastoral  activity,  490 
sqq. ;  loss  of  hearing,  general  in- 
firmity, 494  sqq.,  519;  his  resig- 
nation of  the  Philadelphia  con- 
gregation, 497  sqq. 

Collects  hymns  for  the  Synodical 
hymn-book,  499  sqq. 

His  reading  and  meditating,  502 
sqq. 

Respect  shown  to  him,  517  sq. 

His  last  will,  521. 

His  death,  523. _      — 

Honors  done  to  him  after  death, 
5 23 sqq. 

Memorial  sermons  of  Helmuth  and 
Kunze",  525  sqq. 

Retrospect  and   estimation  of  the 
character,    intellect,   and    labors 
of  H.  M.  Muhlenberg,  530  sqq. 
Muhlenberg,  Anna  Eve,  286. 

Anna  Mary,  163  sq.,  367,  379  sq., 
520,  534- 

Eve  Elizabeth,  203,  407. 

Fred.  Aug.  Conr.,  240  sq.,  400 ;  430 
(return  from  Halle);  431  (exam- 
ination and  ordination) ;  432  (pas- 
tor of  Christ  Church,  New  York) ; 
433  (quits  the  church-service)  ; 
450  sq.,  514  (expected  at  Eben- 
ezer, Ga.);  518. 


INDEX. 


543 


Muhlenberg,  H.  Chr.,  284. 

G.  H.  E.,  D.D.,  383,  400,  412, 
430  (return  from  Halle);  431 
(examination  and  ordination) ; 
435  (in  the  pastoral  office  in  New 
Jersey  and  assistant  in  Philadel- 
phia) ;  436  (elected  third  pastor 
in  the  Philadelphia  congrega- 
tion); 437  (call  to  Lancaster; 
his  renown  as  a  botanist) ;  446, 
480,  497,  499,  SHsq.  (his  let- 
ters to  his  father)  ;  516  (elected 
president  of  synod) ;  524. 

J.  P.  G. ;  165  (birth) ;  238,  321,  383, 
400,  422  sqq.  (in  pastoral  work) ; 
428  (ordained  at  London) ;  428 
sq.  (his  patriotism) ;  485,  486  sq., 
518. 

J.  Arndt,  284. 

F.  A.,  M.  D. ;  Hon.  H.  A. ;  H.  H., 
M.  D.;    F.  A.,   D.  D.;    W.  A., 
D.  D.,  438. 
Muller,  H.,  publisher,  364,  398. 

Wickard,  377. 
Miinchhausen,  Von,  10. 

N. 

Naesman,  Gabr.,  Rev.,,  174,  178,  194, 

212,  244. 

Naumann,  teacher,  285. 
Nautschau,  Germany,  439. 
Nazareth,  Pa.,  116,  247. 
Negro  slaves ;  68  sq.  (in  Georgia) ;  289. 
Neill,  Hugh,  Rev.,  344. 
Neusahl,  Lutheran  college  in  Hungary, 

233- 

Neustadt  (Newtown),  Va.,  411. 

New  Amsterdam  (New  York),  61 ;  see 
New  York. 

New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  259. 

Newburg,  N.  Y.,  256. 

Newbury,  Mass.,  67. 

New  Germantown,  N.  J.,  240,  312,  382, 

424,  447. 

•  New  Hanover,  Pa.,  95,  112,  135,  2g2_: 
206  (school-house  erected) ;  255 
(first  German  Lutheran  congrega- 
tion in  America) ;  263,  311. 

New  Holland,  see  Ear/town. 

New  Market,  Va.,  238. 

New  Providence  (Trappe),  Pa.,  95,  161, 
202,  206  (church  dedication)  ; 
241,  265,  289,  338  sq.,  492,  sqq., 

524. 

New  York  City,  227  (Lutherans  from 
Holland  there) ;  254  sqq. ;  256 
(German  Lutherans  call  a  pas- 
tor) ;  263  (importance  of  the  lo- 


cality) ;  277  sq.  (Dutch  and  Ger- 
man Lutherans);  288  (union  of 
the  two). 

New  York  Ministerium,  411,  475. 

Niemeyer,  druggist,  422. 

Nitschmann,  Ludwig,  III. 

Norberg,  Rev.,  351. 

Norden,  town,  34. 

Nordlingen,  town,  74. 

Northkill  (Bernville),  178,  1 86,  198,  206 
(petitions  for  a  regular  pastor). 

Nubiihl,  Schleswig,  159. 

Nyberg,  L.  T.,  Rev.,  165  sq.,  175  sqq., 
1 86  sq.  (results  of  his  labors  at 
Lancaster) ;  1 88  (at  York) ;  206, 
244  sq.  (his  insincerity) ;  386. 

O. 

Officers  of  congregations,  352  sqq.,  355, 

362. 

Oglethorpe,  J.  E.,  Gov.,  40,  65  sqq.,  68. 
Oley  (Ohly),  Pa.,  in,  145,  160,  307. 
Oporin,  Prof.,  Dr.,  9,  n,  29,  40. 
Order  of  salvation,  197. 
Orphan-  House : 

at  Halle,  8,  9,  134  (books  and  med- 
icines from  there) ;  264,  285. 

at  Gottingen,  n. 

at  Grosshennersdorf,  19. 

at  Langendorf,  26. 

at  Savannah,  Ga.,  67,  69  sq. 

at  Ebenezer,  Ga.,  72,  75. 
Osnabruck,  town,  32. 
Otto,  emperor,  4. 
Ottolenghe,  Jos.,  469. 
Oxford,  near  Philadelphia,  344. 

P. 

Palatinates  in  England,  37,  166. 

on  the  Hudson,  62,  166,  199,  255. 

on  the  Congaree    River  in  South 
Carolina,  62. 

in  the  Tulpehoken  Valley,  Pa.,  143. 

in  the  Schoharie  Valley,  N.  Y.,  167. 

in  Lancaster  co.,  Pa.,  173. 

in  Ireland,  231. 
Paradise,  Pa.,  238. 
Parlin,  Olof,  Rev.,  244,  246. 
Pasche,  F.  W.,  Rev.,  416,  462. 
Pastoral  conference,  264.    -- — 
Pastorius,  F.  D.,  91. 
Pastors,  self-appointed,  129,   130,   134, 

149. 

Paul's,  St.,  Church  (Episcopal),  Phila- 
delphia, 385. 
Pausa,  in  Saxony,  114. 
Pawling,  Mr.,  290  sq. 
Paxton' Massacre,  220,  396. 


544 


INDEX. 


Peina,  town,  32. 

Pemberton,  Eb.,  D.  D.,  281. 

Penn,  John,  Governor,  488. 

Penn,  William,  43,  89,  91. 

Pennsneck,  N.  J.,  107. 

Pennsylvania  at  the  arrival  of  Miihlen- 

berg,  89  sqq. 

population,   93,  21 6  sqq.  (political 
aspects). 

Pennsylvania  Packet,  504  sq. 

Periodical,  first  German,  in  America,  43. 

Perkiomen  Creek,  Pa.,  240. 

Perlitzius,  Dan.,  M.  D.,  233. 

Peter's,  St.,  Barren  Hill,  Pa.,  377  sqq., 

452. 
Philadelphia,  394  (Episcopal;  new 

organ) . 
Pikestown,  Pa.,  319,  412. 

Peters,  Rich.,  D.  D.,  326,  330,  339  sqq. 
(biogr.) ;  346  sqq.  (letter  to  the 
bishop  of  London) ;  425,  447, 
488. 

Philadelphia  in  early  times,  91. 

Philadelphia  German  Lutheran  congre- 
gation, 350  sqq.  (its  early  his- 
tory) ;  360  (need  of  a  new  consti- 
tution; numerical  growth) ;  357* 
361,  363  (Muhlenberg's  return  to 
the  city  demanded);  363  (erec- 
tion of  school-house );  370 (adop- 
tion of  the  new  constitution) ;  371 
(chartered) ;  393  (H.  M.  Muhlen- 
berg's influence) ;  393  sq.  (earth- 
quake); 397  (politics);  417,452, 
487  sq. 

Pickel,  B.,  elder,  227,  260. 

Pietism,  8,  14  sq.,  28,  67,  71,  145,  151, 
249,  253,  291,  392  sq.,  418. 

Pietists,  122,  224,  299,  345. 

Pikeland,  Pa.,  307. 

Pikestown  (Vincent),  319,  350,  412 
sq. ;  456  (corner-stone  laying); 
482  (church  dedication). 

Pliitschau,  missionary,  16. 

Poelnitz,  26. 

Poeltzig,  town,  12. 

Portsmouth,  46. 
^Pottstown,  Pa.,  413. 

Prseses  of  synod,  267,  362,  372. 
-Prayer-meetings,  392. 

Presbyterians,  281  (at  New  York);  293, 
347,  391,  397  sq.  (at  Philadel- 
phia). 

Princeton  College,  N.  J.,  326,  348. 

Prizelius,  P.  D.,  Rev.,  324  sq.  (biogr.) ; 
382. 

Probstzell,  Germany,  407. 

Providence,  see  Neiv  Providence. 


Psalmodia  Germanic  a,  279. 
Purry,  J.  P.,  79. 
Purrysburg,  S.  C.,  79  sqq. 
Pyrlaeus,  J.  Chr.,  Rev.,  114,  118,  120, 
123,  125. 

Q- 

Quakers ;   92   (their  political  interest) ; 

136,    204,  218,    228,    327  sqq., 

337,  396  sqq. 
Quitopahilla  (Steitstown,  Lebanon),  Pa., 

385,  386. 


R. 


Raben,  Chr.,  377  sqq. 
Rabenhorst,  Chr.,  Rev.,  307, 


463- 


444  sqq. 


Racheway  (Rockaway),  N.  J.,  205. 

Raccoon,  N.  J.,  243,  451. 

Rambach,  J.  J.,  D.  D.,  201. 

Ramsgate  Road,  45. 

Raphel,  Rector,  7. 

Rapp,  Ph.  H,  257  sq.,  305,  374  sq. 

Raritan  congregations,   150    sqq.,   165, 

1 70,  239,  240  (change  of  names) ; 

255,  312  sq.,  314,  315  sq.,  323, 

324,  414. 

Ratterman,  H.  A.,  423  (Deiitsch-Amer- 
kanisches  Magaziit], 

Raus,  Lucas,  Rev.,  232  sqq.  (his  life  un- 
til his  arrival  at  Philadelphia) ; 
234  (his  peculiar  temper) ;  234 
sqq.  (labors  at  Goshenhoppen, 
Indianfield,  etc.) ;  235  (pastor  at 
York);  259  (sent  to  the  con- 
gregations on  the  Hudson) ;  236 
(later  years  and  death) ;  266  sq. 
270  sq.,  385. 

Reading,  Pa.,   149,   264,  309,   310  sq., 

325,  382,  386,  387  sq.,  450,  483, 
487. 

Reck,  Baron  von,  62. 

Reed's  Church,  Pa.,  144,  146,  178  sq. 

Reformed  Church,  252,  273,  294. 

pastors,  212  (present  at  the  ded- 
ication of  St.  Michael's,  Philadel- 
phia) ;  273  sq.,  290. 

Regina,  the  released  captive,  221  sq. 

Remmerspach,  N.  J.,  256,  273,  318. 

Reuss,  Von,  10  sq.,  12,  17,  23,  26. 

Reutlingen,  Germany,  222. 

Rhinebeck,  N.  Y.,  199,  248,  250,  251. 

Rhode,  Ant.,  Rev.,  23. 

Richards,  J.  W.,  D.  D.,  457. 
Mattias,  496,  518. 

Riesenbeck,  Dr.,  10  sq. 

Riess,  J.  Fr.,  Rev.,  256  sqq.,  266,  271. 
278,  281,  273,  452  sq. 


INDEX. 


545 


Rittinghuysen,  91. 
Roeller,  J.  Geo.,  Rev.,  448,  524. 
Roemhild,  Germany,  376. 
Romanists  in  Pennsylvania,  94,  329. 
Roos,  M.  Fr.,  Rev.,  503. 
Rosenthal,  Pa.,  430. 
Rosleben,  Germany,  438. 
Ross,  En.,  Rev.,  125. 
Roth,  Jas.,  Rev.,  388. 
Rotterdam,  35. 
Ruckert,  L.  E.,  D.  D.,  16. 
Rudman,  Andr.,  Rev.,  255. 
Rudolph,  Carl,  157,  170,  190,  204  sq., 
237,  250,  256,  334. 

S. 

Saalfeld,  Von,  12. 

Saccum,  Pa.,  1 60,  199  sq.,  240. 

Salisbury  (Salzburg,  Pa.),  200,  322,  430. 

Salzburg  Lutherans,  40,  66,  76  sq. 

Salzburger  family,  41,  45,  48,  50,  64,  69. 

Sahburger  Reports,  474- 

Salzwedel,  Germany,  285. 

Sandin,  J.,  Provost,  211,  214.  * 

Sauer,  Christian,  147. 

Christoph.,  43,  165  (his  German 
newspaper);  201,  331  sqq.  (re- 
lation to  the  charity  schools). 

Savannah,  Ga.,  65,  466  sqq. 

Savoy  congregation  at  London,  184. 

Saxony,  John  Fred,  of,  4. 

Schaefer,  Dav.,  498. 

Fr.  D.,  D.  D.,  376,  382. 

Schaff,  of  Schoharie  Valley,  168. 

Schaum,  J.  H.,  Rev.,  158  (arrival);  159, 
170  (visits  the  Raritan  congrega- 
tions);  183,  195  (visits  Monoc- 
acy);  200  sq.  (at  York);  205, 
239  (examined  and  ordained); 
241,  260,  263,  306  sq.  (removal 
from  York;  later  pastoral  activ- 
ity and  death);  309,  315,  319, 
350,  386. 

Schertlin,  J.  F.,  Rev.,  311,  424. 

Schippach,  Pa.,  133,  178. 

Schlatter,  Mich.,  Rev. ;  230, 292  (biogr.), 

325,  330.  452,  524- 
Schleydorn,  Henry,  101,  106,  268,  293, 

3°3>  304. 
Schmidt,  J.  Fr.,  D.  D.,  375  sq.  (biogr.); 

414  sq.,  451. 
N.,  95,  96,  104,  194. 
Schmucker,  B.  M.,  D.  D.,  442. 

J.  G,  D.D.,  417. 
Schneider,  druggist,  362,  366. 
Schoener,  J.  Dan.,  351. 
Schoharie  Valley,  N.  Y.,  143,  167. 
Schortritz  in  Anhalt,  96. 
35 


Schrack,  Widow,  99. 

Schrenk,  L.  H.,  Rev.,  227  (arrival  and 
reception) ;  228  (catechist  at  Up- 
per Milford,  etc.);  229  (ordained 
and  sent  to  the  Raritan  churches) ; 
229  sqq.  (his  ungrateful  behavior 
and  erratic  course);  231  (em- 
barks for  Europe) ;  246,  320. 

Schubert,  Rev.,  84. 

Schultz,  Fred.,  Rev.,  285  sqq.  (biogr.); 

3I7- 
Schultze,  J.  Chr.,  Rev.,  112,  142,  174, 

351- 

Schulze,  Ch.  Em.,  Rev.,  407  sqq. (biogr.) ; 

451,  482,  524. 
J.  L.,  D.D.,  132. 
J.  A.  M.,  governor,  408,  519. 

Schumacher,  D.,  Rev.,  325. 

Schiissler,  J.  J.,  rector,  6. 

Schwab,  Gust.,  533. 

Schwarbach,  J.,  catechist,  238,  428. 

Schwarzwald,  Pa.,  147,  160. 

Schwenkfelders,  the,  94,  no,  218,  397.  « 

Schwerdfeger,  J.  L.,  Rev.,  306,  372,  41 1. 

Scotch-Irish  immigrants,  93,  217. 
Presbyterians,  173. 

Seckler,  Dan.,  124. 

Seidensticker,  O.,  Prof.  Dr.,  403,  484  sq. 

Selig,  teacher,  377. 

Seminary,  Theological,  at  Philadelphia, 
439  sq.,  448  sq. 

Semler,  J.  L.,  D.  D>,  503. 

"Senior"  (title  of  honor),  409. 

Seventh-day  Dunkers,  1 1 1, 145, 180, 245. 

Small  Catechism,  edited  by  Chr.  Sau- 
er, 201 ;  edited  in  English  by 
Wrangel,  364. 

Smith,  Horace  W.,  336. 

Will.,  D.  D.,  324,  326  sqq.,  330, 
331  (provost  of  the  college  and 
academy  at  Philadelphia),  347. 

Society  de  Promov.  Cogn.  Christ.,  39, 

462,  466. 

for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel, 
39,  41,  66,  244,  326. 

Solms-Roedelsheim,  Count,  381  (leg- 
acy); 492. 

Solms,  Von,  1 1 . 

Somner,  Rev.,  96,  224. 

Nic.,Rev.  (at  Schoharie,  N.Y.),  249. 

Spangenberg,  A.  G.,  bishop,  no,  116, 
145,  149,  175,  180,  195. 

Spener,  Ph.  Jac.,  D.  D.,  8,  12,  291. 

Spithead,  46. 

Stanwix,  John,  Col.,  341. 

Statesbury,  N.  J.,  253. 

Steiner,  J.  C.,  Rev.,  390. 

Steinmetz,  Abt,  17,  224. 


546 


INDEX. 


Stendal,  Germany,  285. 

Stephens,  Th.,  Col.,  69. 

Stiegel,  H.  W.,  383  sq. 

StillS  (family),  148. 

Stoever,  J.  C.,  Rev.,  Jr.,  102,  112,  119, 
127,142,144,  157,174,  183,188 
(resided  at  Earltown) ;  213,  241 
sq.,  351  sq.,  388  (received  into 
the  ministerium). 
J.  C.,  Rev.,  Sr.,  236  sq.,  351,  486. 

Stolberg,  Von,  n,  159. 

Stone  Arabia,  N.  Y.,  454. 

Stouchsburg,  Pa.,  144. 

Strassburg,  Alsace,  309. 
Va.,  411. 

Strebech,  Geo.,  Rev.,  442. 

Streit,  Christian,  Rev.,  383  (biogr.) ;  430, 
477,   5°6   sq.   (letter  of  H.  M. 
Mtthlenberg  to  him). 
Sigismund,  494  (his  legacies). 

Streiter,  a  teacher,  149,  194,  213,  308. 

Stroudsburg,  Pa.,  248. 

Stisse,  Rev.,  19. 

Swain,  Francis,  496,  518. 

Swatara  Cave  (Atolheo),  Pa.,  385. 

Swedish   Lutherans,  loi   (at   Philadel- 
phia); 243,  391  (relation  to  the 
Episcopal  Church);  421. 
settlers  on  the  Delaware,  85,  91,  93, 

243- 

in  West  Jersey,  92. 
*-»  on  the  Schuylkill,  93. 

pastors   and   their  relation   to   the 
German  Lutheran  pastors,  342. 
Symbolical     Books    of    the     Lutheran 
Church,  189,  191,  210,  211,  281. 
Synod;    208  (necessity   of);    212    (at- 
tempted  by  the   Swedes);    214 
(concerning  places  of  meeting) ; 
283,    324,    388    (congregations 
united  in  it  A.  D.  1763). 
Synodical  meetings : 

208  sqq.  (first  held  at  Philadelphia) ; 

346,  371,  373,  388. 
239,  385,  496  (at  Lancaster,  Pa.). 
241  (at  Providence). 
286  (at  Germantown). 
311  (at  New  Hanover). 
448  (at  Philadelphia,  clerical  mem- 
bers). 
"'519  (at  York,  Pa.). 
Synods   of  Pennsylvaia  and   adjoining 
States,    of   West    Pennsylvania, 
and  of  New  York,  494. 

T. 

Talbot,  governor  of  Maryland,  6l. 
Tappe,  Dr.,  31  sq. 


Tar  Bush  on  the  Hudson,  250. 
Tennent,  Gilb.,  Rev.,  336,  391. 

W.,  Rev.,  391,  463. 
Theus,  Swiss  painter,  81. 
Thomas,  Governor,  107,  125. 
Thurnstein,  Herr  von,  8 1,  94,  119,  124. 
Till,  mayor  of  Philadelphia,  1 24. 
Timrod,  H.,  459. 
Tinicum  Island,  86,  348,  364. 
Tohicon,  Pa.,  234,  258,  315. 
Tranberg,  Pet.,  Rev.,  105,  106, 107, 123, 

126,  142,  211. 

Trappe,  see  Neu>  Providence.       -^, 

Treutlen,  Adam,  463-467  sqq. 
Triebner,  Chr.   Fred.,  Rev.,  444  sqq., 

463,  467  sqq.,  513. 
Trinity  (Hamburg)  Church  in  London, 

249,  258. 

Church  at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  404. 
Holy,  church  at  New  York,  526. 
Tulpehoken,   Pa.;    143   sqq.,  161    sqq. 

(confusion  there);  198,  203,  206 

(Christ  Church  dedicated);  206 
/      (petitions  for  a  regular  pastor) ; 

241,  264  (pastoral  conference); 

374,  382. 

U. 

Uhl,  Chr.  R.,  355. 

Ulm,  Germany,  309. 

Unaltered   Augsburg    Confession,    191, 

211. 

Unander,  Eric,  Rev.,  243,  245. 

United  German  Lutheran  churches,  214, 

244  (pastors),  353. 
Unruh,  Geo.,  147. 
Upper  Dublin,  Pa.,  382. 
Upper  Merion,  near  Philadelphia,  380. 
Upper  Milford,  Pa.,  160,  199  sq.,  240. 
Urlsperger,  J.  A.,  D.  D.,  444,  467,  474, 

S1* 

Saml.,  D.  D.,  41,  72,  284,  443  sq. 

V. 

Vigera,  J.  Fr.,  73  sq.,  160, 178,  200;  227 
(marriage);  241. 

Vincent,  St.,  see  Pikestmvn. 

Virginia,  German  Lutherans  in,  236  sq.  * 

Voigt,  J.  L.,  Rev. ;  375  (elected  at  Ger- 
mantown, then  at  New  Han- 
over); 409,  412  sqq.  (biogr.); 
456>  524- 

W. 

Wagner,  Fred.,  D.  D.,  199. 

Tobias,  Rev.,  148  sqq.,  152  sq.,  157, 
163,  184,206,  210,  213,  241  sq., 
264,  306,  307,  312,  388. 


INDEX. 


547 


Waldoborough,  Maine,  148. 

Wales,  immigrants  from,  93. 

Wallrath  of  Schoharie,  168. 

Walter,  Mich.,  teacher,  263. 

Washington,  Geo.,  218,  485  sq.,  493. 

Weinland,  J.  F.,  Rev.,  376. 

Weisensee,  Ph.  H.,  D.  D.,  284. 
—  Weiser,  J.  C.,  Sr.,  166  sqq. 

J.  C.,  Jr.,  143,  145,  161  sqq.,  167, 
176,  178,  179  sqq.,  240  sq.;  246 
sqq.  (journey  with  Miihlenberg 
to  the  Hudson) ;  269,  276  sq., 
312,  323  (his  death);  330. 
Anna  Mary,  163. 

Weisiger,  Dan.,  351. 

Weiss,  G.  M.,  Rev.,  133. 

Weitendahl  (White  Hall),  Pa.,  307. 

Wernigerode,  town,  29,  407,  409. 
Von,  10,  n,  28,  285. 

Wertsch,  J.  C.  (Wurtz),  463,  467  sqq. 

Wesley,  Chas.,  Rev.,  66  sq. 
John,  Rev.,  66  sq. 

Weygand,  J.  A.,  Rev. ;  223  sqq.  (arrival 
and  reception) ;  226  (sent  to  the 
Raritan  congregations) ;  227  (or- 
dination; call  to  New  York; 
death);  239,  241,  259,  263,  271, 
280  sq.,  295. 

White,  Bishop,  428. 

Whitefield,  Geo.,  Rev.,  63,  67,  72,  116, 
228,  290,  341,  388,  390  sq.,  391 
sq.  (H.  M.  Miihlenberg  dissents 
from  him) ;  401,  406,  447  sq. 
'-White  Hall,  Pa.,  430. 
— ~*  Whitemarsh,  Pa.,  377. 

W'icaco  (Gloria  Dei)  at  Philadelphia, 
107,  174,  244,  342. 

Wicksell,  John,  Rev.,  345,  372,  451. 

Wiesenthal,  Chas.  Fr.,  M.  D.,  410. 

William  I.  of  Prussia,  20. 

Wildbahn,  C.  Fred.,  Rev.,  386,  524. 

Winchester,  Va.,  388,411. 

Winkler,  Rev.,  32. 

Witpen  (Whitpain),  Pa.,  142,  322. 

Wittenberg  in  Saxony,  119. 

Wolf,  J.  A.,  Rev.,  151  sqq.,  170,  250. 

Wolfe,  General,  320. 

\Vomelsdorf,  Pa.,  179. 

Wood,  James,  427  sq. 

Woodstock,  Va.,  238,  411 ;  428  (former- 
ly Staufferstadt) ;  486. 

Wordmann,  H.B.  G.,  Rev.,  307,  312. 
««.Wrangel,  C.  M.,  Rev.,  Provost,  245, 
324,  342  sqq. ;  348  (his  pastoral 
activity ;  relation  to  Methodism ; 
to  Pietism;  to  the  Episcopal 
Church;  his  friendship  with 


Miihlenberg) ;  345  sq.  (his  in- 
terest in  the  history  of  the  Lu- 
theran Church  in  this  country) ; 
346  sqq.  (introduced  to  the  bish- 
op of  London) ;  359,  364  (trans- 
lation  in  English  of  Luther's 
Small  Catechism) ;  367,  370,  380, 
385,  420  (returns  to  Sweden) ; 
421  (letter  of  introduction  to  the 
bishop  of  London) ;  422  (his 
death);  423,  511  sqq.  (letter  to 
H.  M.  Miihlenberg). 

Wiirtemberg,  301,  305,  307. 

WiirtembergerSjtwo,  disciplined  by  Miihl- 
enberg, 228  sq. ;  360  (many  of 
them  in  the  Lutheran  congrega- 
tion at  Philadelphia). 

Y. 

York,  Pa. ;  165,  185  sq.,  187  sq.  (early 
history);  196  sq.  ( Miihlenberg' s 
visit  there) ;  200  sq.  (Schaum 
sent  there) ;  205,  306,  372,  384 
sq.  (dedication  of  church). 

Z. 

Zellerfeld,  town,  7. 

Ziegenbalg,  missionary,  16. 

Ziegenhagen,  F.  M.,  D.  D.,  15,  22,  36 
sqq.,  41,  1 17  sqq.,  I2O,  121,  140, 
241,  298,  352,  381,  494. 

Zinzendorf,  Count;  17,  94,  109  sqq., 
1 20,  123  (his  assumed  authority 
over  the  Lutherans  in  Pennsyl- 
vania) ;  no,  n  I  (his  unionistic 
tendencies  and  conferences)  5113 
(preaches  to  the  German  Luther- 
ans at  Philadelphia) ;  114  (puts 
Pyrlseus  in  his  place  at  Philadel- 
phia) 5115  (builds  a  church  there 
and  establishes  a  Moravian  con- 
gregation) ;  352. 

117  sqq.  (conversation  with  H.  M. 
Miihlenberg);  124  (leaves  for 
England);  126. 

145,  181  (was  acquainted  with  J. 
Conr.  Weiser,  Jr.). 

Zion  Church  at  Mosellem,  Pa.,  149.  r-^ 
Aat  Ebenezer,  Ga.,  470,  514. 
f    at  Pikestown,  Pa.,  319,  375,  412. 
\  at  Philadelphia,  390,  405  sqq.,  489, 

5I9- 

Ziracka,  Prince,  4. 
Ziibly,  Joach.,  D.  D.,  68,  306,  465  sq., 

478. 
Zwiesler,  J.  A.,  94  sq. 


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